It was often said about Tendulkar that his big scores didn't lead to team wins, but stats reveal something quite different: Tendulkar scored 33 of his 49 centuries in wins, and averaged more than 56 in team wins, at a strike rate of 90. Among those who scored at least 5000 runs in wins, only Lara and Richards have higher averages. In terms of hundreds scored in wins, Ponting is next with 25.
However, it's also true that Tendulkar's 14 centuries in defeats is a record too, five clear of Chris Gayle, who's next with nine. In defeats, though, Tendulkar's average dropped to 33.25 at a strike rate of 79.86. Clearly, in the overall context of his lengthy career, his runs led to wins more often that not. As mentioned earlier, no player has won as many Man-of-the-Match awards either - Tendulkar has 62, while the next-best is Jayasuriya with 48.
| Batsman | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike rate | 100s/ 50s |
| Brian Lara | 134 | 6553 | 61.82 | 86.32 | 16/ 42 |
| Viv Richards | 114 | 5129 | 56.98 | 93.01 | 11/ 32 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 231 | 11,157 | 56.63 | 90.31 | 33/ 59 |
| Mohammad Yousuf | 151 | 6426 | 55.87 | 78.59 | 14/ 41 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 147 | 6938 | 55.06 | 77.87 | 18/ 41 |
| Michael Clarke | 134 | 5084 | 52.95 | 80.62 | 4/ 42 |