Statistical Comparison: Rahul Dravid vs Sachin Tendulkar in Test cricket

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are often considered as the two greatest Test batsmen ever produced by India. Some cricket fans, especially from the older generations, do question this by bringing up the name of a certain Sunil Gavaskar. Whilst there is a little doubt that Gavaskar deserves to be considered on par with the two top Indian run-scorers in Test cricket, Dravid and Tendulkar played most of their career together which makes them easier to compare to each other.So who was the better batsman among India’s greatest number three and India’s greatest number four? Here we have a detailed statistical look and find out what the numbers say about the two greats of modern-day cricket.

#1 Details

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
Born	11 January 1973	24 April 1973
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)	5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
City of Residence	Bangalore	Mumbai
Batting style	Right-handed	Right-handed
Nickname	The Wall, Jammy	Little Master, Tendlya, God, Master Blaster
School	St. Joseph’s Boys High School, Bangalore	Sharadashram Vidyamandir School, Mumbai
Teams	India, Karnataka, Kent, Scotland, ICC World XI, Asia XI, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals	India, Mumbai, Asia XI, Yorkshire, Mumbai Indians

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#2 Career figures

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
Matches	164	200
Innings	286	329
Runs	13288	15921
Average	52.31	53.78
Top score	270	248*
100s	36	51
50s	63	68
Balls faced	31258	29437

Sachin Tendulkar started his international career a fair deal earlier than Rahul Dravid did, having been roped into the Indian team at the age of just 16. He is the only cricketer in the history of the game to have played 200 Tests and that record will be hard to match, considering most players do not last 24 years in international cricket these days.

The Mumbaikar again holds the record for scoring the most Test runs. Dravid was second on the list when he retired, but since has been overtaken by Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis, who were great batsmen in their own right. Tendulkar’s average is slightly better, while Dravid holds the record for having faced the most number of deliveries in a Test career.

India’s former number four scored 15 more Test centuries in his career than his counterpart, with both being dismissed in 90s, 10 times each, a record they share with former Australian captain Steve Waugh.

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#3 Figures outside Asia

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
Matches	69	77
Innings	126	135
Runs	5918	6247
Average	53.80	50.37
Top score	233	241*
100s	14	18
50s	31	30

Rahul Dravid is known to be the man who taught India how to win outside the sub-continent. It’s no co-incidence that some of India’s greatest victories in other continents – be it Headingley 2002, Adelaide 2003, Kingston 2006, Perth 2008 – all have a heavy Dravid imprint.

Hence, it’s no surprise to see that Dravid has a better average than Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar, having played 8 more Tests under such conditions, has scored just over 300 runs more than his counterpart. Both averaging over 50 in conditions that are alien to Indian cricketers, shows how great they were. Very few cricketers in the history of cricket have an average of 50+ both home and away.

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#4 Team record

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
Matches	164	200
Won	56	72
Lost	49	56
Drawn	59	72
Win Ratio	0.34	0.36
Loss Percentage	0.30	0.28
Batting average in victories	65.78	61.93

Both Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have a similar win-loss record when it comes to team performances.

Tendulkar has the upper hand, but not by much, with a 2% gain on Dravid in both departments.

When it comes to contributing with the bat, one could say that Dravid is well ahead of Tendulkar, averaging almost 4 runs more. That would come as no surprise as a lot of India’s famous Test victories over the last decade have been influenced by The Wall’s performances with the bat.

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#5 Captaincy record

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
Matches	25	25
Won	8	4
Lost	6	9
Drawn	11	12
Win Ratio	0.32	0.16
Loss Ratio	0.24	0.36
Batting average	44.51	51.35

Not many would argue against the notion that Rahul Dravid was a better captain than Sachin Tendulkar, and the stats back up that too. Dravid, despite failing at the 2007 World Cup, had a very good record in Test cricket as captain. He led India to their first Test match win in South Africa, their first Test series win in West Indies in 25 years, and their first Test series victory in England in 21 years.

Tendulkar won just 4 matches as skipper from a total of 25, with all 4 victories coming in Indian conditions. On the other hand, it can be said that Dravid got to captain a much better team compared to the Little Master.

Despite his captaincy record being poor, Tendulkar has a significantly better batting record, while captaining the Test team.

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#6 First class record

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
Matches	298	310
Innings	497	470
Runs	23794	25396
Average	55.33	57.84
Top score	270	248*
100s	68	81
50s	117	116
Ranji Trophies won	3	6

Dravid and Tendulkar played for the two most successful domestic teams in India – Karnataka and Mumbai – respectively. Hence, it comes as no surprise that both players won the Ranji Trophy a few number of times.

As with their Test records, Tendulkar has a slight advantage over Dravid here. Despite playing lesser innings, the Master Blaster scored 1,575 runs more than the Bangalorean. He also ended his first-class career with a higher batting average.

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#7 Individual honours

Player	Rahul Dravid	Sachin Tendulkar
1994	-	Arjuna Award
1997	-	Wisden Cricketer of the Year
1998	Arjuna Award	Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
1999	CEAT Cricketer of the World Cup	Padma Shri
2000	Wisden Cricketer of the Year	-
2004	ICC Cricketer of the Year, ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, Padma Shri	-
2006	ICC's Test Team Captain	-
2008	-	Padma Vibhushan
2010	-	ICC Cricketer of the Year
2011	NDTV Indian of the Year- Lifetime Achievement Award	-
2012	Don Bradman Award	-
2013	Padma Bhushan	-
2014	-	Bharat Ratna
Man of the Match Awards	11	14
Man of the Series Awards	4	5

Conclusion:

Although Dravid gains a lot when you compare his role in wins, especially away from home, the Mumbaikar’s overall records are significantly better than The Wall’s

In the end, one could conclude that Tendulkar comes out just ahead of Dravid. But not by much.

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