Not long ago, Australian international Usman Khawaja remarked that Virat Kohli is a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar in One-Day Internationals. Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in ODIs with 18,426 runs including 49 centuries and 96 half-centuries during the heydays of his cricketing venture.
On the other side of the coin, Virat Kohli who is ruling the cricketing world in the current era has scored 13,437 runs including 48 centuries and 69 half-centuries to his credit. He is just one century away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s overall century tally and two centuries away from creating history in ODIs.
Virat Kohli who is undoubtedly the fittest cricketer in the world has a few more years of cricket left in him and it’s quite clear that he has a great chance to edge past Sachin Tendulkar’s century tally in ODIs. Meanwhile, former Indian fast bowler, Sreesanth has disagreed with Usman Khawaja’s remark.
Virat cannot be compared with Sachin: Sreesanth
The Kerala-born, during an interaction with Sportskeeda, added that Virat Kohli cannot be compared with Sachin Tendulkar because the difference in the two eras is massive. He further added that Virat had it a bit easier due to the quality of bowling and the nature of pitches are not the same as the ones in Sachin Tendulkar’s era.
“Never [no comparison]. Very simple theory. Virat is a legend of the modern era. He has got a lot of records, but if we look at the standard of bowling, the one that Sachin faced and the one Virat is facing, there is a huge difference. The pressure situation is the same, but the quality of bowling… There are so many hundreds being scored even in the IPL,” Sreesanth said.
“Virat cannot be compared with Sachin because the difference in the two eras is huge. Name one bowler who can bowl six balls in an over at the same spot. The perfection with which Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne bowled; Sachin answered all of them with his bat. Virat is the same, but I don’t remember Sachin getting out to the same bowler again and again,” the veteran added.
“If Sachin had batted on such wickets, he would have made 200 hundreds and not 100 hundreds. I am not saying anything against Virat, but he himself would accept that if so many matches were played back then in a year, add to it the support staff and facilities to keep yourself younger, you can never compare Sachin to Kohli,” Sreesanth concluded.
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