Wisden people have no wisdom!!

For all those Sachin fans who felt as offended as I did because Sachin didnt find place in 100 best test innings.

Following are the parameters on which each innings was judged and then ranked. I am not sure of the weightage given to each so assuming equal weightage to all lets compare two innings.

Lara's 375 against England in 1993 and the other Sachin's 136 V Pakistan in 1999.

1.Batting base points

Assuming that this means absolute runs scored and  considering 400 to be equal to 1, we get  375 == 0.9375

136 == 0.34

So Lara's score 0.9375 and Sachin's 0.34. Lara's innings chosen to be in top100 at this point is fair enough.

2.Pitch index

Again name doesnt help much. Guessing it to mean the no of runs scored/per wicket lost on the pitch.

For WI V Eng Pitch Index comes out to be 81.9333

For Ind V Pak Pitch Index comes out to be 25.9

So sachin scored 136 on a pitch that had average of 25.9 and Lara scored 375 on a pich with a average of 81.933. So sachin' sscore for this one will be 136/25.9=5.21 and for Lara it will be 375/81.933=4.577. Total scores this far. Sachin 1 and Lara 1.

3.Bowling quality index

Its Fraser,Lewis,Tufnell and Caddick V Akram, Waqar, Saqlain and Afridi.

Total wickets, bolwing averages everything will suggest that Pakistan bowling attack is better. So this one goes to Sachin.

4.Percentage of score index

Lara 63.2%. Sachin 52.7. So this one goes to Lara.

5.Point of entry index

Lara came in at 1-11 and Sachin at 2-6 so this one will go to Sachin.

6.After point of entry index

Lara had partnerships of 179,183,219.

Sachin had partnerships of 44,23,9,136,36.

I guess this index means how much support he got from teammates. So this one should also go to Sachin.

7.Wickets falling at crease index

For Lara it was 3

For Sachin it was 4.

So sachin gets this one too.

8.Support index

If you see After point of entry index it would suggest that Sachin got less support and should get the benefit here too.

9.Shepherding of tail enders index

Lara was the fifth man out. So no question of tailenders by then unless they playing 7 bowlers ;).

Sachin was the 7th man out, so only person who could have done any sort of shepherding is Sachin.

10.Highest score index

For both players it was the highest score of the innings. So its a tie.

11.Match status index

WI drew the match whereas India sadly lost it. So this one would go to Lara inpite of the fact that cricket is not a one man's game. And India losing doent make Sachin's innings any less great than it is. Still rules are rules. So this one to Lara.

12.Result contribution index

Sachin definitely didnt contribute to loose but still India lost and Lara drew the match so again Lara gets this one.

So in case i have done my primary mathematics course correctly and assuming equal weightage to all criterias we declare Sachin as winner against 10th best innings of all times. There are still 90 lesser innings than Lara's and no place for Sachin, what a shame!!

PS- Lara is a great batsmen and I am in no way undervaluing his innings. Chose this innings to compare just because it was easy to find stats for it.