The Relative Failure of Sachin Tendulkar

India has lost all the four test matches in England by huge margins. Going further India has been walloped in the first test in Australia and are on a leather hunt in the second test.This despite the presence of Sachin Tendulkar the much touted Indian batting star. His batting average in this series against MCC is a measly 27 and his over all contribution negligible. Many of his supporters have been crying hoarse that Sachin is the greatest batsman of all time, but I am afraid they can't answer a question as to why is he not a match winner in the genre of a Bradman, Vivian Richards or Sobers.
Sachin has indeed piled up individual records, but in a team game which has 11 players, these records pale into insignificance if the end result is defeat. In fact Sachin who has been around for almost 20 years has done precious little to see that India win test matches abroad. During the almost two decades Sachin has been with the Indian team his presence has had no effect in India winning matches outside Indian soil. In fact his performance outside India has not been decisive and India has suffered some stupendous defeats. One wonders how with Sachin Tendulkar in the team India could not win a series in Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and News Zealand on their home soil. The bottom line is that India also lost to Zimbabwe and that is something difficult to explain.
A great player does pile up records, Bradman did so and so did Sobers and Richards, but they had an effect and saw to it that their teams won. Unfortunately this has not happened with Sachin in the Indian Team. He has piled up records but his performance has not ensured an Indian victory outside India. Even one can fault him on his commitment like he declined to tour the West Indies on the plea that he wanted to be with family. A professional player at the top will never give such a lame excuse to avoid playing on a difficult tour. The end result was disastrous as Sachin entered the English tour without match practice and has come a cropper. He may still hit a hundred in the present series but that will be small consolation to Indian's as the series is well and truly lost. The question is that if India cannot win abroad, do we need this man to just keep piling personal milestones?