Bradman is the greatest, Sachin comes only second: Waugh, Benaud

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Sachin Tendulkar can come only second, after legendary Don Bradman in the list of all-time great cricketers, according to former Australia captain Steve Waugh. More... Bradman is the greatest, Sachin comes only second: Waugh March 11, 2010 10:54 IST Sachin Tendulkar can come only second, after legendary Don Bradman in the list of all-time great cricketers, according to former Australia captain Steve Waugh. "Don Bradman is the greatest, there is no debate. Don is the number one and then come the rest. And among the rest, Tendulkar probably is as good as anyone. So legitimately he may be the second best cricketer to have played the game," Waugh said. "But then people will say the same for Gary Sobers and WG Wells too. So it's difficult to say," added Waugh, who is here as a member of the Laureus Sports Academy. Waugh also said it is dangerous that Test cricket doesn't have quality fast bowlers anymore as they are preferring the 20-over format over the game's five-day version. "It is dangerous for Test cricket that we are losing the quicks. It is a Twenty20 influence. Fast bowlers definitely have a lot of stress and doing this is very demanding. "I think they realise that they have few years of cricket in them. They get three times more money by bowling one-tenth overs in T20. So we had (Andrew) Flintoff, Brett (Lee) and (Shane) Bond deciding not to play Test which is a shame," he said. The 1999 World Cup winning captain Waugh said India and Australia will start the favourites in the ODI World Cup next year, which will be held in Indian sub-continent. "Australia have very good record. India is also very hard to beat in India. So they will be the favourites. "Then there is also New Zealand. I think, there are probably five teams capable of winning the World Cup but India and Australia will be the favourites," he said. Asked whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men were capable of retaining their number one Test team tag for long, Waugh said, "I don't think anyone will hold the number one ranking (for long) because we have three formats of the game. "With niggling injuries and so many tours, it is very difficult to be consistent. May be they can hold on to Test ranking but it is very difficult to dominate all the formats of the game." Waugh also has apprehension about the Decision Referral System and thinks still there is place for improvement. "I'm at times very confused about it. I was initially against it but later I read about it and saw decisions going right but for the last 12 months some of the decisions didn't seem right, which showed the technology is not completely full-proof yet," he said. "The technology have to be better than what it is now or may be it could go back to the umpires. They could ask for 2-3 referrals rather than the players. "But then some will argue that we don't have enough good umpires to ask for a referral all times. So we have to get the umpires to the standard of Simon Taufel, who is very confident," Waugh said. Another incident which has grabbed the attention of Waugh is the rise of Afghanistan who has qualified for this year's Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies. "It is a great sporting story. It is a potential movie. It is a fairy tale, the story of the year. Players learning cricket in the refugee camps and doing so well. I think with the T20 World Cup coming up, this will be one of the future stories of the event," he said.

[vvvslaxman]

I think we can safely merge this news with the running thread about Sahin , Bradman.

[Guest DeveGowda]

So now thousand posts will appear on this topic....i wonder why people wont bored with this topic....:winky:

[someone]

The Don is the greatest' date=' IMO followed by Lara, Kallis and then Ponting/Tendulkar are equal.[/quote'] No disrepect to them, even they themselves would strongly agree Tendulkar is better than them.

[CSK Fan]

Gee, Waugh puts Sachin ahead of Lara and Ponting. What a blind worshipper he is!

[achilles]

Ok Steve, we get your point.

[virufan]

The Don is the greatest' date=' IMO followed by Lara, Kallis and then Ponting/Tendulkar are equal.[/quote'] Care to explain why Lara and Kallis are better than Sachin??

[virufan]

Certainly' date=' having seen all three live, I derived the more pleasure out of watching them, and thought them to be the more skilled...why am I not allowed to come to this conclusion - it is not wrong, just as you thinking Tendulkar (please do not call someone you do not know by their first name!) to be the best is equally valid. However i do not see why there is so much agression towards me for this opinion. Tendulkar is, after all, only another human no more important than you or I - I fail to understand why there is this worship about him - it strikes me as something children do, or old and backward cultures such as Ancient Greece.[/quote'] There is no anger in my statement. We fans can't call Sachin as Sachin. :omg: If you are so formal, pls add Mr. to Tendulkar. This is heights.

[punjabi_khota]

Certainly' date=' having seen all three live, I derived the more pleasure out of watching them, and thought them to be the more skilled...why am I not allowed to come to this conclusion - it is not wrong, just as you thinking Tendulkar (please do not call someone you do not know by their first name!) to be the best is equally valid. However i do not see why there is so much agression towards me for this opinion. Tendulkar is, after all, only another human no more important than you or I - I fail to understand why there is this worship about him - it strikes me as something children do, or old and backward cultures such as Ancient Greece.[/quote'] :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Thats some funny **** you wrote there. :giggle:

[Lord]

WG Wells?whos that?man i have still lot of cricket to learn

[CSK Fan]

ummm...you clearly did not read what I wrote' date=' old chap, I said that most people, apart from Tendulkar Worshippers, would put the Don above Tendulkar...after that it is a matter of opinion, Waugh's is one opinion, and I respect his opinion, but do not necessarily, and don't, have to share in it.[/quote'] Nah, my post wasnt aimed at you.

[virufan]

WG Wells?whos that?man i have still lot of cricket to learn

Or is it HG Wells?:haha:

[Lord]

Or is it HG Wells?:haha:

I dont know whos that too:((

[virufan]

The Don is the greatest' date=' IMO followed by Lara, Kallis and then Ponting/Tendulkar are equal.[/quote'] Don has played mostly against England. Lara is a treat to watch but lacks the consistency of Tendulkar. Kallis is good but cannot be compared with Lara and Tendulkar. Ponting is way down in my list. He has miles to go before he catches up with Tendulkar's records. Dravid and Gavaskar will also be in my Top 10 in world list.

[satyam1729]

I can accept your opinion on all but Bradman. He played mainly against England - is that a bad thing? England is, and certainly was then the most challenging place to play cricket!! Equally the level of dominance is such that we know that he was touched by greatness that will never be repeated.

Playing against a bunch of pie chuckers was certainly most challenging. I don't know how deluded english fans would have been had there team been a little good

[king2be98]

Lara is a treat to watch but lacks the consistency of Tendulkar. Kallis is good but cannot be compared with Lara and Tendulkar. Ponting is way down in my list. He has miles to go before he catches up with Tendulkar's records.

Lara is inconsistent? Have a look at his record, you don't average 50+ in Test cricket or 40+ in ODIs is you're consistent. Why can Kallis not be compared with Lara and Tendulkar? He has just as good of a record in terms of average, perhaps he has wilted against Aus, but I think his overall record is good enough for him to be compared with them. Tendulkar's records are amazing, the only reason the others won't catch up is cause Sachin was 16 when he started playing the game, else I think they'd have come very close.

[satyam1729]

Go and look in Wisden' date=' also, if England are so bad, how come their win percentage is higher than India's...:omg:[/quote'] lol WI also have a very high winning percentage. And we all know how good they are. And what is wisden. Another english magazine:haha:

[king2be98]

Playing against a bunch of pie chuckers was certainly most challenging. I don't know how deluded english fans would have been had there team been a little good

You know you should read up on wisden and take into account what the former giants of the game have to say. Imran Khan said the standard of bowling was significantly better across the world as he started his career to when he ended it. He recently said that the current state of world bowlers is attrocious, I agree. Maybe England had pie chuckers back in Bradman's day, but they can't be any worse than the rubbish we see in every game these days.

[satyam1729]

Lara is inconsistent? Have a look at his record' date=' you don't average 50+ in Test cricket or 40+ in ODIs is you're consistent. Why can Kallis not be compared with Lara and Tendulkar? He has just as good of a record in terms of average, perhaps he has wilted against Aus, but I think his overall record is good enough for him to be compared with them. Tendulkar's records are amazing, the only reason the others won't catch up is cause Sachin was 16 when he started playing the game, else I think they'd have come very close.[/quote'] Then add Dravid in that list too.His record is also amazing. Do you know Tendulkar is the youngest player to score a century in Australia, England , SA? Also the youngest player to achieve no.1 rankings at the age of 21. So you can't say that he wasn't good at young age.

[satyam1729]

its a magazine:headshake: no its the most respected cricket publication in the world in terms of statistical accuracy...and you realise we are talking about the 1930s not now' date=' or are you so deluded that you think Bradman has only just retired?[/quote'] Do you know in 1930s how much popular cricket was?:hysterical: I think cricinfo is more accurate than wisden