Virat Kohli is often compared to Sachin Tendulkar. There are many who think Sachin is truly the greatest batsman in the history of the game while others have rated Virat as the number one.
In an exclusive interview to Mirror Now’s Faye D’Souza, Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri gave his opinion on the comparison between the two players.
He went on to praise Sir Donald Bradman and Garry Sobers. The former Indian all-rounder further added that comparing players of different generations is not right.
“I have always believed I do not compare leaders. You know.. If there is one man who stands out literally because of sheer performances and averages is Sir Donald Bradman, you know because he was so far ahead of his generation at that time but you cannot compare generations, you know.. Sobers in his time was the best cricketer in the world but there are lot of similarities between the two.. I mean the work ethics, the sacrifice, you know the wanting to dominate when you are out there in the middle, you know just the pursuit for excellence.. you know.. the sacrifices they make is the determination.”
Shastri stated that Sachin and Virat are pretty similar as the former scored runs across the globe and the latter is doing the same at the moment.
“Kohli and Tendulkar very very similar and Sachin got runs everywhere you know and so is Virat now and the thing with both of them they are huge role models for the kids.. huge,” said Shastri. “So, when you have a level of performance that high, you are obviously going to be compared but then like I said it’s each one to its generation.”