Former India pacer believes Virat Kohli is not as great as Sachin Tendulkar

Virat Kohli has been in sensational form in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. He has shown why he is the best batter of all time when it comes to chases. So far, the former Indian skipper has scored 354 runs in 5 innings in the mega event. The 34-year-old has so far scored one century in the marquee tournament. In the last match against New Zealand, he could have tied Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 ODI centuries but missed it as he was dismissed for 95 runs. 

Kohli has been the star for India in crisis moment. In the World Cup match against Australia, he and KL Rahul played one of the best innings of their life when the Men in Blue were struggling at 2/3. He played a knock of 85 runs and made sure the two-time world champions were through in their first game.

Previously, Australian opener Usman Khawaja said that Virat Kohli was better than Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs. But former India pacer S Sreesanth disagreed with the claim of the Australian batter. Sreesanth believes Tendulkar would have scored 200 centuries if he had got such kind of batting-friendly pitches and had faced today’s bowlers. The God of Cricket has scored 18426 runs in 452 innings at an average of 44.83, and Kohli has smashed 13437 runs in 274 innings at an average of 58.16.

Virat is a legend of the modern era: S Sreesanth

Sreesanth said, “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.”

“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.”