That's the series effectively over, so here's the 'end of term' reports.

Cook - It may not just be coincidence that the two batsmen who scored first innings 50's and therefore, in their own minds, cemented their places in the Oval line up, were the two who played the most brainless shots second time around.

It wasn’t that long ago that Sehwag was wandering the desert.

Unwanted by his people and most major sponsors.

He was cast aside for men with lusher hair and more athletic physiques.
 

Superstars are, like it or not, an essential part of any sport. Any grand epic loses its flavour without its great heroes, its talismanic figures, and most interestingly, clashes between these great champions.

Of all the colossuses who have stridden the history of the game, Brian Charles Lara and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar are amongst the biggest. For all their faults and failings, there is no doubt that they will be recognized as greats. But here’s the question that has not seen a clear answer ever – who amongst the two was greater? Or, let’s put it this way. If you had to pick a World XI ODI team and could fit in only one of these two, whom would you pick?

 We figured it would be interesting to add a new dimension to this perennial debate, and so, decided to slip these two through the SquadStats filter. This basically means, we try and find who amongst the two is a better player in terms of the value they add to their respective teams.

 We took a look at their averages in ODI’s, put it against the West Indian and Indian team batting averages in different conditions, under different circumstances, analyzed various other batting statistics and found some interesting results.

And possibly, an answer to the above question.

Why Sachin's excellent 50 to 100 conversion rate falls short of Lara's big knocks

The better 'Big Innings' frequency

Where Lara scores over Sachin