Know some myths about Sachin Tendulkar, the great

New Delhi: Master blaster and Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, Sachin Tendulkr was worshipped like God and he has almost all the records thats possible in the World of cricket but there are some glaring facts that cast shadow on his greatness. Indian journalist and sports buff Sumit Chakraberty has written a book titled Master Laster, What They Don't Tell You About Sachin Tendulkar in which he has gone through the record books facts not many cricket fans were aware of, to give an assessment of the talent that Tendulkar was. The book gives an amazingly new insight into this enormous talent as also into his unspoken weaknesses. The book was written at the time of Tendulkar's recent retirement, a lavish affair, which cricketers can only dream of. According to the book, though Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries and 67 half centuries but not a single a century or half century was scored in the second innings to chase a target, or to set up a win for India outside the subcontinent. V.V.S. Laxman did it four times, and Rahul Dravid thrice. Rahul Dravid scored 72 not out to take India to the victory target of 233 in Adelaide after others had failed. Chakraberty invites comparison here with Tendulkar's highest Test score of 248 not out to beat Bangladesh by an innings and 140 runs in Dhaka. The book says onn the record books, it's the 248 that counts for more double century, check, match winning, check, an away game, check. And it obviously does more for the batting average too,” observes the book. “The stats attach no importance to the fact that Dravid gave India a rare Test win in Australia, whereas Tendulkar's exploits in Bangladesh were mostly superfluous.” On another occasion, Tendulkar's 100th international century came in a game India lost to Bangladesh. His scoring rate was below par — 114 runs in 147 balls.However, India lost also when Tendulkar scored a brisk century — 143 runs in 131 balls against Australia in Sharjah. But that lifted the net run rate enough to catapult India into the finals. The book argues an individual player's records, can be seen as a stand-alone feature, but they offer a better insight when compared to the performance of the rest of the team on a given outing.Bradman heads the list of players who had the highest percentages of team totals over a test career, showing that he often came good when others caved in. Brian Lara stands out at number three in this list while Tendulkar, according to Chakraberty, doesn't figure on the list.The writer says, it's no fun to daydream all the time. “They may argue with the book's conclusions, but as lovers of cricket they will appreciate the questions it raises.” One such question thus posed is a basic, familiar one: was Tendulkar the real master or was it Sunil Gavaskar? How well did he handle pressure compared to the other greats of his era?The 205-page book is crammed with illuminating and disconcerting facts on Tendulkar's career. Of his 49 ODI centuries India won the match 33 times, which is a 67pc success. But Saurav Ganguly got 22 centuries leading to 18 wins, or 82pc success. Three other persons who matched Ganguly's performance are Ricky Ponting (83pc), Sanath Jayasuriya (85pc) and Saeed Anwar (80pc). When Virender Sehwag scored a century India lost only once, and Adam Gilchrist's centuries returned 100 pc wins for Australia.Dravid was considered a slow poke, but the book claims he had winning percentages equal to Tendulkar's..