Tendulkar better than Lara: Sobers

Sachin Tendulkar received yet another accolade with Sir Garfield Sobers, arguably the greatest cricketer ever, saying the Indian champion is ahead of Lara with his concentration and thinking ability.

"I would say Tendulkar concentrates better and he thinks more. As for Lara, only in the last two years is he looking to apply himself better," said Sobers in Bridgetown on Wednesday in a rare appearance at the West Indies nets.

Sobers, the supreme allrounder with over 8,032 runs, 235 wickets and 109 catches from 93 Tests, however, said he expected both Lara and Tendulkar to go on and join the very best of all time.

"They are still very young and I think with the passage of time, both of them could find themselves in the elite hall of fame," said Sobers who, but for a shuffling walk and a protruding paunch, still cuts a neat figure at 65 years.

"I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot of time," said Sobers. "He has it in him to be among the very best."

Sobers was impressed by Lara's batting in the second Test "especially if you remember he has still not recovered completely from his hand injury."

Speaking his mind out against the comparison of past and present cricketers Sobers said he did not see any merit in trying to equate players of different eras and evaluating them as the game has changed so much.

"I don't think it (comparison) serves any purpose. Besides, the game has changed so much. There is a limitation on the bouncers. It wasn't there before and you could bowl six bouncers in an over.

"There was also no restriction on the front-foot rule. Some bowlers like Gordon Rourke of Australia would drag their feet so far down the wicket they would be bowling from 18 to 20 yards. Obviously, the ball was coming a lot quicker at you," said Sobers whose 365 not out against Pakistan in Kingston was the highest individual score in Tests for 36 years before Brian Lara eclipsed it in 1994.

"Also there was no helmet. You realise what would have happened to the Indian batsman (Rahul Dravid) if he was not wearing a helmet in Guyana. He wouldn't have been able to continue his innings.

"Further, you could keep as many men as you wanted behind square leg. Now there is a restriction of only two fielders,"

On the flip side, "may be a lot of our innings could go on because there was no television judging run-out decisions or catches which are picked on half volleys."

Sobers, who is a national icon to the Barbadians and whose statue was unveiled on Heroes Day yesterday, went down the memory lane on his experiences playing against India.

"The Indians who came here in 1971 were victorious and it is fair to say it was because of Sunny Gavaskar. We had heard a little about him but we didn't know he would be so good.

"They also had (Gundappa) Viswanath who people back home rated better than even Sunny. They had Bishan Bedi, an outstanding left-arm spinner.

"How good they were could be understood by the fact that they also defeated England at home. They were obviously a good bunch of cricketers," said Sobers.

Sobers said though he hit quite a few hundreds against India he remembered two knocks in particular - one in Madras and one in Calcutta during the tours of 1958-59 and 1966-67.

"I remember Madras because we were eight or nine wickets down and I had only Charlie Griffith and Lance Gibbs to give company and we were able to bat out the remaining 45 minutes of play.

"Griffith in particular would push his front leg far down the wicket to ensure he was not given out leg before wicket. In doing so, he was once hit on the chest from a delivery by (Erapalli) Prasanna and for a good two to three minutes he kept rolling on the pitch in pain."

"This was also the game in which Farokh (Engineer) got 90-odd runs before lunch against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith. He was spectacular on that day.

"But you know this thing about Farokh, he attacked fast bowlers to defend himself. That day it paid off well for him," Sobers said.

"The hundred at Calcutta I enjoyed specially because the wicket at Eden Gardens those days was like an English wicket. The ball would seam and swing a great deal."

Sobers said India had produced some very good cricketers and though he knew of men like Lala Amarnath, Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare in their waning years, Subhash Gupte was someone he always regarded as the most outstanding leg spinner he had ever come across.

"He was very good and had a couple of googlies, one he pitched from high up and one he released just next to his ear. He was superb," said Sobers.

"I distinctly recall a game in 1952-53 in which Robert Christiani was batting and Gupte was bowling to him. On one delivery, Christiani was so far down the wicket he could have made his ground at the non-strikers end."

Sobers said West Indies couldn't see the best of Vinoo Mankad, an outstanding Indian allrounder. "It was obvious he didn't like fast bowling and once Roy Gilchrist tested him with short pitched stuff, he was neutralised for the rest of the series".

Mail Cricket Editor