ICC places Sachin at Number 26 – The Joke of 2009?

                   

The ICC ranking was eagerly awaited by the international cricket fraternity and the verdict is out at last; the new ranking assigns Sachin Tendulkar the twenty sixth place in the list of best batsmen that cricket has ever produced. No, it is not a printing error, you got it right; according to ICC ranking, two maestros in international cricket - Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are not among the top twenty Test players. This unique ranking not only stunned the followers of cricket worldwide, it has been considered as a big joke by some of the prominent cricket personalities of the country.   When even Sir Don Bradman picked up Sachin as his torch bearer, then ICC’s decision to keep him out of top ten all-time-great list does not only look odd, it looks funny and it raises question about the logical basis of such estimation. The ex-skipper of India and the Vengsarkar voices his doubts about the authenticity of the method that ICC follows in doling out their ranks for the international cricket players. Chetan Chauhan, one time opener for India also voiced his shock and disagreement, “Anybody who scores 12,000 runs…and not having his name in the all-time great list will surprise not only me but everyone in the fraternity.” So what has been ICC’s yardstick for preparing this controversial list? Consistency in career and the highest performances in the career of a cricketer have been two major criteria in ICC’s method of ranking. If consistency was a big factor for the selection, how can one down- rate Sachin who has over 12000 runs in test cricket and has a track record that spans over seventeen long years! And so far as the high points in the career of a test cricketer is concerned, Cricket360.com has big doubts whether ICC could differentiate between Sachin’s top performances and ordinary performances. Seems that ICC could not quite figure out the high points of the career of this player, who for the most part of his Test career stayed at the summit. While ICC’s injustice to Sachin drew huge nationwide criticisms, The Indian cricket board decided to distance itself entirely from this cricket controversy. It maintained that since it is an ICC decision, the BCCI should not make any interference. It does not matter, whether BCCI officially voices its displeasure over the issue, the rest of the nation seems to fully agree with Chetan Chauhan that “If Sir Don Bradman is number one, and then Sachin should have been number two.”