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The Thirty-three effect

Three years ago, a debate was raging over Sachin Tendulkar’s usefulness to the Indian cricket team. Every former cricketer and critic contributed his penny’s worth to this hot discussion — most of them thought the batsman was a spent force. Two of Sachin’s fans thought the experts were overreacting. Following a form of research, Vijay Santhanam and Shyam Balasubramanian found out that it was impossible for Sachin not to have failed, and that he would come out of this phase, blazing. They called their theory ‘The Thirty-three Effect’, and made it a pivotal chapter in their book — “If Cricket Is a Religion, Sachin Is God”.

Sachin’s poor run started in 2005. During the 2006-07 season, he was clearly a shadow of his former self. It was not so much the poor scores as the way he got them that caused consternation. He was letting the bowlers dominate him — that’s not the Sachin most people knew. Studying the career statistics of other great batsmen (and also great sportspeople), Vijay and Shyam found out that around 32, a “biological process” kicks in, and makes it difficult for a sportsman to perform the way he used to. The problem becomes acute when the batsman turns 33. Most turn the corner after their 34th birthday; some don’t.

They back their ‘Thirty-three Effect’ theory with batting statistics of Gordon Greenidge, Garfield Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Vivian Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Geoff Boycott, Javed Miandad, Greg Chappel, Rahul Dravid and, of course, Sachin Tendulkar.

The book is replete with statistics from Sachin’s 20-year career. As Sachin fans, the two have been filing away statistics and reports about the batman for twenty years. But, they began to collect data with the intention of using it in a book only three years ago, which was when Sachin’s detractors became more vocal.

The two wrote the book together, despite living in two geographical zones — Vijay is in Singapore and Shyam in London. “As alumni of IIM, Ahmedabad, we have kept in touch,” says Vijay, who was in the city recently for the launch of the book. They kept mailing the drafts to each other. As both are diehard Sachin fans, there were not many differences of opinion. The book does not pretend to be anything more than a tribute to Sachin. But the authors have honestly repeated the criticism that Sachin has faced over the years.

The book presents a panoramic view of Sachin’s career — his spectacular entry as teenage batting sensation, his peak performances, his fall and resurrection.

Notwithstanding a tone of utter deification of Sachin Tendulkar, the book makes for a good read — thanks to a neat writing style and the massive volume of data and the carefully laid-out arguments.

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