Micheal Lewis - MLB, NFL, IPL?

Reading Michael Lewis' The Blind Side after watching the movie. Its even better than the movies. More nuance, including the evolution of the left tackle.

He should write a book about the IPL. A story (of his) about the melding of cricket and Bollywood would be breathless.

Sachin == God?

Clearly, Sachin Tendulkar's record speaks for itself and lots of people worship him, but having been on the losing side of many a match in the World Cup, Sharjah and Benson and Hedges finals over the past two decades, the question in my mind is whether Sachin performs when it *really* matters?

I define *really* by: occasion (a final, a decider), the opponent (Australia, Pakistan), and importance (World Cup, Sharjah).

Cricinfo has a nice query interface called Statsguru to answer some of these questions.

It has some limitations though. For e.g., the View Format can contain either all-round fields (match result, for example), or individual fields (batting/bowling results, for example) but not both. So we need to run two queries and correlate the results. I've reproduced the result tables for easy reference.

What was India's performance against Australia or Pakistan, in the finals, semi-finals or quarter-finals of a one-day tournament?

Match resultsResultMarginBRTossBatOppositionGroundStart Datelost72 runswon2ndv PakistanSharjah25 Oct 1991ODI # 685lost88 runslost2ndv AustraliaMelbourne18 Jan 1992ODI # 709lost6 runslost2ndv AustraliaSydney20 Jan 1992ODI # 711won7 wickets26lost2ndv AustraliaSharjah19 Apr 1994ODI # 910lost39 runswon2ndv PakistanSharjah22 Apr 1994ODI # 912won39 runswon1stv PakistanBangalore9 Mar 1996ODI # 1078won8 wickets53lost2ndv PakistanDhaka14 Jan 1998ODI # 1276lost6 wickets111won1stv PakistanDhaka16 Jan 1998ODI # 1277won3 wickets1won2ndv PakistanDhaka18 Jan 1998ODI # 1279lost4 wickets8won1stv AustraliaDelhi14 Apr 1998ODI # 1316won6 wickets9won2ndv AustraliaSharjah24 Apr 1998ODI # 1327won44 runslost1stv AustraliaDhaka28 Oct 1998ODI # 1360won20 runslost1stv AustraliaNairobi (Gym)7 Oct 2000ODI # 1633lost125 runswon2ndv AustraliaJohannesburg23 Mar 2003ODI # 1993lost37 runslost2ndv AustraliaKolkata18 Nov 2003ODI # 2064lost7 wickets59won1stv AustraliaMelbourne6 Feb 2004ODI # 2097lost208 runslost2ndv AustraliaSydney8 Feb 2004ODI # 2098won6 wickets25lost2ndv AustraliaSydney2 Mar 2008ODI # 2688won9 runswon1stv AustraliaBrisbane4 Mar 2008ODI # 2689won5 wickets14lost2ndv AustraliaAhmedabad24 Mar 2011ODI # 3143won29 runswon1stv PakistanMohali30 Mar 2011ODI # 3147

How did Sachin do in these matches?

Match by match list

Bat1	Runs	BF	SR	4s	6s		Opposition	Ground	Start Date
0	0	1	0.00	0	0		v Pakistan	Sharjah	25 Oct 1991	ODI # 685
4	4	10	40.00	0	0		v Australia	Melbourne	18 Jan 1992	ODI # 709
69	69	100	69.00	3	0		v Australia	Sydney	20 Jan 1992	ODI # 711
6	6	7	85.71	1	0		v Australia	Sharjah	19 Apr 1994	ODI # 910
24	24	26	92.30	4	0		v Pakistan	Sharjah	22 Apr 1994	ODI # 912
31	31	59	52.54	3	0		v Pakistan	Bangalore	9 Mar 1996	ODI # 1078
95	95	78	121.79	6	5		v Pakistan	Dhaka	14 Jan 1998	ODI # 1276
1	1	6	16.66	0	0		v Pakistan	Dhaka	16 Jan 1998	ODI # 1277
41	41	26	157.69	7	1		v Pakistan	Dhaka	18 Jan 1998	ODI # 1279
15	15	24	62.50	2	0		v Australia	Delhi	14 Apr 1998	ODI # 1316
134	134	131	102.29	12	3		v Australia	Sharjah	24 Apr 1998	ODI # 1327
141	141	128	110.15	13	3		v Australia	Dhaka	28 Oct 1998	ODI # 1360
38	38	37	102.70	3	3		v Australia	Nairobi (Gym)	7 Oct 2000	ODI # 1633
4	4	5	80.00	1	0		v Australia	Johannesburg	23 Mar 2003	ODI # 1993
45	45	66	68.18	5	0		v Australia	Kolkata	18 Nov 2003	ODI # 2064
8	8	22	36.36	1	0		v Australia	Melbourne	6 Feb 2004	ODI # 2097
27	27	40	67.50	4	0		v Australia	Sydney	8 Feb 2004	ODI # 2098
117*	117	120	97.50	10	0		v Australia	Sydney	2 Mar 2008	ODI # 2688
91	91	121	75.20	7	0		v Australia	Brisbane	4 Mar 2008	ODI # 2689
53	53	68	77.94	7	0		v Australia	Ahmedabad	24 Mar 2011	ODI # 3143
85	85	115	73.91	11	0		v Pakistan	Mohali	30 Mar 2011	ODI # 3147

Observations:

• Surprisingly, India has won 11/21 of these matches. Sachin scored more than 50 in 7/11 of these matches, more than 90 in 5/11, and centuries in 3/11.
• In the 10 matches India lost, Sachin scored less than 50 in 9/10.

That's quite contrary to my impression, and a strong correlation between India and Sachin's performance.

Of course, one could vary the query parameters; add Sri Lanka to the mix, for example, or pick certain venues, like Sharjah which I feel is more intense for India than Dhaka, for example.