There's not much I can say about Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis that hasn't been said already. India's Little Master has scored 32,000 runs and 97 centuries for India and boasts a first-class career average only a shade under 60. The South African can lay claim to being one of the greatest ever all-rounders, with more than 500 international wickets to accompany his 23,000 runs, yet remarkably his Test batting average is superior to Tendulkar's. What is more astounding is that, when the cricketing powers are supposed to be waning and thoughts of retirement coming to the fore, both players seem to be at the peak of their game.
In 2010, Sachin was simply awesome. He scored more Test runs than anybody else (1,562), more centuries (seven) and, although he was rested for a chunk of limited-over internationals, Tendulkar found time even to outscore all the biff-bang merchants in the lucrative IPL Twenty20 tournament. And guess who came second in the Orange Cap table? Yes, Jacques Kallis! No wonder he can still command over $1million in the 2011 IPL auction. I'm not the greatest fan of the new format but I feel reassured that the greatest cricketers, bowlers or batsmen, can prosper even in this truncated form of the sport.
The South African was never the most lithe of fielders, although possessing superb reflexes in the slips, and his seam bowling is being used more sparingly these days. Nevertheless, when you can still compile almost 1,200 Test runs in a year (at over 100 a game), averaging 80, Kallis would walk into a World XI for his batting alone. Like Tendulkar, the scoring rate may not be up there with the Sehwags, Gayles and Tamim Iqbals but then Tests are won by building innings to suit the situation. India have been blessed with so many great batsmen in recent times. If Sehwag and Gambhir get out early, then the opposition can be easily demoralised when they are then faced with Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman. In his home nation, Kallis has often been criticised for scoring too slowly. Well, the Proteas would not be quite the force they are today without his runs and ability to glue an innings together with such an unruffled air of calm. These days, they can also afford to do without his swing and seam bowling thanks to having a new world-beating pace attack, in the form of Steyn and Morkel. However, in his younger days, Kallis was just as good as Ntini and a formidable first-changer behind Donald and Pollock.
So was 2010 just a final hurrah, a statistical aberration? Well, not if the final Test between India and South Africa is anything to go by. Both share the official No.1 spot in the ICC batting rankings following their centuries at Cape Town. Indeed, in that game Kallis became only the second South African to score two hundreds in a match twice - despite a painful blow on the ribs. The two teams have produced two great Test series in the past year, bringing out the best in Sachin and Jacques, but it would be even better to see them face each other over five matches.
So how will 2011 treat these two all-time greats? Well, as players get older, it becomes harder to remain injury-free. Both have overcome problems in the past, but Kallis now faces possibly a month on the sidelines to recover from that rib injury. At least he need not put himself through the rigours of the ODI series against India. However, he remains an important part of South Africa's World Cup set-up. It may well be the last such tournament for him and Tendulkar, who will probably experience his swansong tour of England this summer. I will certainly look forward to that, and already have my ticket for the Indians' warm-up against Somerset!
Tendulkar's retirement will inevitably be a sad day for all cricket but we should not forget the immense contribution made by Kallis and I hope there will be much more to admire from both players in the coming twelve months.
