Is Sachin Tendulkar the greatest cricketer ever?

[yoda]

Why stop at the greatest cricketer - how about the greatest human being' date=' the greatest alien, the greatest Martian?[/quote'] getting there. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Is-Sachin-Tendulkar-the-greatest-sportsperson-ever/pollsportsperson/7150731.cms :winky:

[Sachin=GOD]

Without a doubt Tendulkar can stake his claim for the greatest cricketer ever on account of his batting exploits. How about the case of Ponting? He has 25k+ runs with almost 70 100's and on top of that he had been captaining his side for 7 years and has 208 wins as skipper (160 ODI + 48Test) in international games the most in the history of the game that also includes 2 WC leading ventures. Remember we are talking about the greatest cricketer ever here and captaincy is one of the components that counts towards making someone a great cricketer along with their individual skills ( batting' date=' bowling and fielding). After all the burdens of a captaincy can heavily weigh in on an individuals on field performance. On that account Ponting's 208 wins and 7 years at the helm to go along with 25k+ runs and almost 70 centuries makes a compelling case for the greatest cricketer ever along with players like Tendulkar and a few others.[/quote'] Fair point about Captaincy. But tell me honestly - do you think Ponting was even remotely in the same league as a captain as his preprocessors Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor or Alan Border or any other great captains of world cricket - Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ganguly, Hussain, Ranatunga etc etc. He had a world beating side that he inherited from Waugh. As a batsman he is extremely good but as a captain, not in same league as some of the best captain of the game.

[pensionplan]

Without a doubt Tendulkar can stake his claim for the greatest cricketer ever on account of his batting exploits. How about the case of Ponting? He has 25k+ runs with almost 70 100's and on top of that he had been captaining his side for 7 years and has 208 wins as skipper (160 ODI + 48Test) in international games the most in the history of the game that also includes 2 WC leading ventures. Remember we are talking about the greatest cricketer ever here and captaincy is one of the components that counts towards making someone a great cricketer along with their individual skills ( batting' date=' bowling and fielding). After all the burdens of a captaincy can heavily weigh in on an individuals on field performance. On that account Ponting's 208 wins and 7 years at the helm to go along with 25k+ runs and almost 70 centuries makes a compelling case for the greatest cricketer ever along with players like Tendulkar and a few others.[/quote']

Fair point about Captaincy. But tell me honestly - do you think Ponting was even remotely in the same league as a captain as his preprocessors Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor or Alan Border or any other great captains of world cricket - Kapil Dev' date=' Imran Khan, Ganguly, Hussain, Ranatunga etc etc. He had a world beating side that he inherited from Waugh. As a batsman he is extremely good but as a captain, not in same league as some of the best captain of the game.[/quote']What you did here is nothing but make a blanket statement by throwing in some names and declaring every one to be seemingly better than Ponting. Ganguly really? The same Ganguly who lost 12-13 finals in ODI's at one point in time with a team that had VS/SRT/RD/AK/HS etc in his team for most of the finals. Steven Waugh better than Ponting?. ok. Based on what. If at all there is a captain that made the most of the best player assembly at one time it is Waugh when he took over from Taylor till he handed over the reigns to Ponting always had Gilchrist, Hayden, Langar, Ponting, McGrath, Mark Waugh and Warne most of the times and at their best. Ponting on the other hand over the last three years has all the greats retired one after the other starting 2006 and everyone phased out by end of 2007 or in early 2008. The way he is working with the newer players and trying to rebuild the side without letting them slip into mediocrity and the respect he commands from his players and CA (Cricket Australia) in itself an indication on how valuable he is and what an excellent skipper he is. And by the way without anyone of Hayden, Langar, Gilchrist, Warne, McGrath he won a Test series in SA who had their full strength team after losing to the same SA team in Australia 2 months earlier. He won the champions trophy in 2009 without any of the said greats in a competition that had all the best teams in the world. He is heck of a captain than he gets credit for and 208 total international wins the most by far in crickets history it has more to do with his leadership skills than just some great players being at his disposal which is nothing but a hollow talk. To me outside of Border and to an extent Taylor I can present very convincing argument that he is better than each one of the skippers you listed in there in your post.