[Arnab]

Lara against the minnows:

against Srilanka: 14 innings, 1125 runs, ave. 86.53, 5 centuries, 2 fifty, 0 notout.

against NewZealand: 8 innings, 614 runs, ave. 51.16, 1 century, 4 fifties, 0 notout.

against Zimbabwe: has not played yet.

So against the minnows (sans the weakest ZIM), with their weak bowling attacks and all, Lara has scored 1739 runs in 22 innings at an average of 79.04.

Tendulkar against the minnows:

against Srilanka: 16 innings, 1124 runs, ave. 80.28, 6 centuries, 3 fifties, 2 notouts.

against NewZealand: 23 innings, 991 runs, ave. 55.05, 3 centuries, 4 fifties, 5 notouts.

against Zimbabwe: 14 innings, 918 runs, ave. 76.50, 3 centuries, 3 fifties, 2 notouts.

against Bangladesh: 1 inning, 18 run.

So against the minnows, with their weak bowling attacks and all, Sachin has scored 3051 runs in 54 innings at an average of 67.80.

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Observations:

1. Lara has played only 22 innings compared to Sachin's whopping 54.

2. Lara hasn't even played zimbabwe, the weakest of test teams.

3. Sachin has amassed 3051 runs against the minnows at an average of 67. 50, almost ten points greater than his overall average. Lara's stats are even more skewed. His average of 79 against the minnows is almost 28 points higher than his current ave.

3051 is 34.68% of 8811, Sachin's total runs. So Sachin scored 1/3 rd of his runs against the minnows.

Lara's 1739 is 20.69%(about 1/5th) of his total of 8404 runs.

4. Lara has scored 6 centuries in 22 innings against the minnows, as opposed to Sachin's 12 in 54.

Gross speculation: Had Lara played in 54 innings against the minnows like Sachin has, he would have scored 14 or 15 centuries and 4268 runs in those matches.

[Edited on 28-9-2003 by Arnab]