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Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs - Who is the best?
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Cover Drive Six
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He is just trying to find solace for yesterday's pathetic innings by Babar in Bangalore.
Babar would have taken 200 balls to score 100 on this Kolkata pitch. Yesterday, he scored a run-a-ball 60 on one of the flattest Indian pitches.
FearlessRoar
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Sachin Tendulkar tweets for Virat
Cover Drive Six
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It seems like Kohli was almost emotional and teary-eyed while talking about Sachin and his 49th century.
Cover Drive Six
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It is all too much for me to take in now, to equal my hero’s record is something special for me. He is perfection when it comes to batting. It’s a very emotional moment for me. I know where I come from, I know the days I have watched him on TV. Just to get that appreciation from him means a lot to me.
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MHN1293
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it was a decent knock considering the match situation at the time. had he gotten out pak would have fallen behind the drs equation and we would have probably lost. so not the best innings but made sure fakhars knock didnt go down in a loss.
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Virat Kohli has equaled the record for the most ODI centuries of Sachin Tendulkar. Have a look at the stats, phenomenal.
Hitman
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So proud of King Kohli!
JaDed
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It was impossible to think that there could had been more famous players after Sachin but we had Dhoni and Kohli almost there.. in terms of fame
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Ponting predicts bigger things for Kohli at World Cup
In-form India star Virat Kohli may raise his game even further during the remainder of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup now that he has equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most ODI hundreds, according to Australia great Ricky Ponting.
Kohli equalled Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries with a brilliant individual ton against South Africa on his 35th birthday on Sunday, and the India dynamo now has a total of 543 runs at this edition of the World Cup at an imposing average of 108.60.
But Ponting has predicted even bigger things to come for Kohli at the World Cup, with the former Australia captain expecting the India right-hander will play with more freedom now that he has drawn level with Tendulkar.
"That might be a bit of a monkey off his back," Ponting said of Kohli's innings when speaking with ICC Digital Insider Tanvi Shah on the latest episode of Digital Daily.
"I think he has been working extra hard to equal Sachin’s record.
"That’s done now and it has happened at a really good time at the tournament for him.
"One more game to go and then they head into the semi-finals.
"It was an almost perfect day for Virat and a great day for India."
The century against South Africa was Kohli's second of the tournament and fourth overall in all 50-over World Cups, and only further strengthens his case of being one of the greatest players of modern times.
But Ponting thinks Kohli has held that mantle for some time now and should be considered the best batter of all time.
"There is no doubt he is the absolute best and I have said that for a long time,” Ponting noted.
"He didn’t need to equal Sachin's record, he doesn’t need to break the record.
"If you look at his overall batting record it is incredible.
"To think that he got 49 ODI hundreds and equalled Sachin and in 175 less innings is unbelievable.”
While Kohli and his fellow batters will get much of the plaudits for India's unbeaten run at the World Cup, Ponting made note of the strong impact their bowlers have had in many of their resounding victories.
South Africa's star-studded batting line-up were skittled for just 83 on Sunday and only two teams have managed to bat out their 50 overs against India through their first eight games of the tournament.
India now have three players among the top 10 wicket-takers at the tournament - Mohammad Shami (16), Jasprit Bumrah (15) and Ravindra Jadeja (14) - and Ponting believes opposition teams have their work ahead trying to quell the powerful bowling group.
"What we have seen in this World Cup so far, is that India’s bowling attack has clearly been the best," Ponting noted.
"Opposition teams are going to have to put a lot of analysis into how they play Bumrah, how they are going to play (Mohammed) Siraj, as they need to get on top of these guys early.
"Because if they don’t, their spinners will come and get you in the middle of the game."
ICC
In-form India star Virat Kohli may raise his game even further during the remainder of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup now that he has equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most ODI hundreds, according to Australia great Ricky Ponting.
Kohli equalled Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries with a brilliant individual ton against South Africa on his 35th birthday on Sunday, and the India dynamo now has a total of 543 runs at this edition of the World Cup at an imposing average of 108.60.
But Ponting has predicted even bigger things to come for Kohli at the World Cup, with the former Australia captain expecting the India right-hander will play with more freedom now that he has drawn level with Tendulkar.
"That might be a bit of a monkey off his back," Ponting said of Kohli's innings when speaking with ICC Digital Insider Tanvi Shah on the latest episode of Digital Daily.
"I think he has been working extra hard to equal Sachin’s record.
"That’s done now and it has happened at a really good time at the tournament for him.
"One more game to go and then they head into the semi-finals.
"It was an almost perfect day for Virat and a great day for India."
The century against South Africa was Kohli's second of the tournament and fourth overall in all 50-over World Cups, and only further strengthens his case of being one of the greatest players of modern times.
But Ponting thinks Kohli has held that mantle for some time now and should be considered the best batter of all time.
"There is no doubt he is the absolute best and I have said that for a long time,” Ponting noted.
"He didn’t need to equal Sachin's record, he doesn’t need to break the record.
"If you look at his overall batting record it is incredible.
"To think that he got 49 ODI hundreds and equalled Sachin and in 175 less innings is unbelievable.”
While Kohli and his fellow batters will get much of the plaudits for India's unbeaten run at the World Cup, Ponting made note of the strong impact their bowlers have had in many of their resounding victories.
South Africa's star-studded batting line-up were skittled for just 83 on Sunday and only two teams have managed to bat out their 50 overs against India through their first eight games of the tournament.
India now have three players among the top 10 wicket-takers at the tournament - Mohammad Shami (16), Jasprit Bumrah (15) and Ravindra Jadeja (14) - and Ponting believes opposition teams have their work ahead trying to quell the powerful bowling group.
"What we have seen in this World Cup so far, is that India’s bowling attack has clearly been the best," Ponting noted.
"Opposition teams are going to have to put a lot of analysis into how they play Bumrah, how they are going to play (Mohammed) Siraj, as they need to get on top of these guys early.
"Because if they don’t, their spinners will come and get you in the middle of the game."
ICC
mominsaigol
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Kohli is bigger in terms of fame then Sachin.
Just look at their Instagram, Twitter followers as well as any popularity polls.
In terms of popularity, kohli is the most popular player all time, not just India.
On seth rogans' podcast, he was actually suprised to discover the statistics, Kohli as a sportsman is more popular then lebron James and the entire superbowl combined.
Only a few football stars like ronaldo and messi are more popular then he is.
Kohli is easily top 5-8 most popular all time. The dude is almost equaling Taylor Swift in popularity lol, On statistical boards Taylor Swift is the 20th most popular person in the world with kohli either at 21 or 22.
lol, you don't know much about India then.
Hitman
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The only difference being that social media wasn't there during Sachin's time.
globetrotter
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Sachin and Virat, both are GOAT….. I feel Sachin is the only master blaster as he faced world’s greatest bowlers as compared to Virat
jnaveen1980
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Both were the best of their era. They both played 31 matches together. Nearly identical stats.
mominsaigol
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Bro, ik about global statistics.
Sachin if he's more popular in India doesn't mean he's more popular globally as kohli is currently more popular then the super bowl combined.
Dude popular world wide and that's primarily due to not just being a superstar cricketer but also married to a pretty well known global actress.
He's a superstar from both ends as well as runs brand endorsements worldwide whereas Sachin is an Indian legend but mostly an Indian legend.
He doesn't have the same global reach as kohli.
Being a better player =/= more popular. Kohli is so popular Americans like ishowspeed and wwe superstars like ksi go go ga ga over him
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jnaveen1980
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They both have played 31 matches together. Here is the record. Eerily similar.
Very very misleading stat for the following reasons:
1. SRT batted in a completely different ERA when plenty of bilateral ODIs were played with Red ball and 200+ was a par score.
2. He played with absolutely useless batsmen around him ( compared to what Kohli has had to all his career ) ... if SRT got out the match was pretty much done. Compare that to Kohli who has had, Rohit, Shikar, Raina, MSD, KL and recently Gill and Shreyas around him.
3. Only one ball throughout the innings during SRT's time. Therefore much harder to score as the ball got older and much more reverse swing
4. Quality of opposition and bowling ( far superior in SRTs time .... can you name anyone equal to Waz, Wicky, Saqi, Shoaib, AD,Polly,Steyn, Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop, McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, BLee, MM , Flintoff, Gough .... )
5. T20 cricket
6. SRT played significant amount of ODI cricket in the middle order batting at #4 or below.
7. Test Cricket ... no comparison. Kohli isnt going to get anywhere close to SRTs achievements in this format.
Anyone who has followed both Tendulkar and Kohli's careers will know that SRT is a far superior batsman especially in Test Cricket and is infact the reason for inspiring legends like Kohli and MSD.
This doesnt mean Kohli is a lesser cricketer. Totally admire Kohli but its a very unfair comparison.
SRT at the age of almost 38 showed the world that he could make 400+ runs in WC followed by a 100 in T20 cricket in IPL ... Lets revisit this in 4 yrs time when Kohli is of the same age.
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Kohli is appearing to be more famous globally because of social media and recency bias.
mominsaigol
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Brother, Theirs no such thing as appearing.
This isn't about how good a player is.
Kohli is more popular then Sachin globally atm, and theirs nothing to be ashamed about.
Sachin is > Kohli as a cricketer and kohli himself acknowledges Sachin as his hero.
Their both legends but in terms of popularity he's more popular and he obviously would be.
As more children are born and grow up they remember this generation, not tye gen before it played.
Taylor Swift is more popular then marlyn manroe cause maryln has been dead for over 80+ years now.
That doesn't mean both aren't great
I think Kohli is more popular than Sachin but I don’t think Kohli or Sachin or any cricket player for that matter is popular outside of cricket playing countries. In America, absolutely no one aside from people who immigrated from cricket playing countries know who he is. He’s more popular than Sachin but I think that’s partially because the Indian population both in India and the world is higher than it was during Sachin’s playing days. But anyone who knows who Kohli is also knows who Sachin is.
The true global super stars of our time are mainly soccer/football players.
mominsaigol
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Naw America knows who he is.
Seth rogan Literally stated he's more popular in America then LeBron James is in America lol.
It's because of his soft bollywood connections that's why.
Kohli is the better ODI batsmen, but he also has the benefit of having played T20 and the benefit of all of the changes that brought to modern cricket in terms of strike rate and shot selection. Sachin, however, has better performances in knockout rounds. In Test, it’s not even a competition - Sachin is miles ahead.
I live in Los Angeles. No one knows who he is aside from people from cricket playing countries. Could you link me to Seth Rogan saying that? There’s no chances he believes that.
Also he’s not even 1% as popular as Lebron James is in America. In America, no recent athlete comes even slightly close to popularity compared to Lebron James, aside from Tom Brady before he retired a couple years ago.
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Stay on the topic of this thread. Do not bring any third party here. It will derail the thread and those posts will be removed.
Point taken. You're talking more about global popularity, not in Indian context.
Bhaijaan
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In Virat Kohli’s own words, he said he will never be as good a player as his childhood idol.
Tendulkar said the same about Viv Richards.
This is legacy.
You respect the past legends for what they achieved.
Tendulkar said the same about Viv Richards.
This is legacy.
You respect the past legends for what they achieved.
chinaman00
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Tendulkar was Indian market success story. Kohli is the real deal. Miles and miles ahead of him.
Technics 1210
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Tendulkar is wrong.
It took him 369 days to get from 48 to 49 ODI centuries.
His 49th to 50th Test century took him over 14 months!
Poor Tendulkar has forgotten his centuries already, but then again I do not think he was expecting to see his record broken so soon!
Mamoon
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I love Tendulkar. If you love the game you love Tendulkar and what he has done for Indian cricket and what he means to billions of people and what he means to players like Kohli, but I have to pick Kohli between the two.
Kohli has better crease presence. His aura is greater. His body language, energy, that steely determination in his eyes. Tendulkar didn’t have that. He was a different character and this is why he wasn’t a leader but Kohli was.
If they had played together in their primes, Tendulkar would have matched him as a batsman in terms of runs or maybe even surpass him in certain aspects, but Kohli would have been the main guy, the face of Indian cricket.
Kohli has better crease presence. His aura is greater. His body language, energy, that steely determination in his eyes. Tendulkar didn’t have that. He was a different character and this is why he wasn’t a leader but Kohli was.
If they had played together in their primes, Tendulkar would have matched him as a batsman in terms of runs or maybe even surpass him in certain aspects, but Kohli would have been the main guy, the face of Indian cricket.
Tendulkar was much more complete as a batsman. Despite debuting 20 years before Virat he had strokes like paddle sweeps, upper cuts and lap shots in his armour . Talent wise only Lara and ABDV are his equal in the last 30 years.
Cricinfo has a nice stat-piece on Kohli and Sachin. Confirms my long held view that it's pointless to compare ODI record before and after the 2 new ball rule.
More 100s are being scored per ODI since the introduction of 2 new balls rule. And runs are being scored at a far faster clip.
If you are one of those who think Kohli is better than Sachin then you might as well believe the likes of KL, Imam, Iyer, Fakhar etc are better than Ponting and Lara.
More 100s are being scored per ODI since the introduction of 2 new balls rule. And runs are being scored at a far faster clip.
If you are one of those who think Kohli is better than Sachin then you might as well believe the likes of KL, Imam, Iyer, Fakhar etc are better than Ponting and Lara.
Bhaijaan
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Both are outstanding ODI batsmen who play a very different role. Virat is an anchor and finisher while Tendulkar is a trailblazing opening batsman.
Who’s better? You never know as they played in different eras but just imagine interchanging their eras and then wonder what happens.
Virat Kohli goes to the 1990s with those inferior bags up against Wasim, Mcgrarh, Warne, Murali, Waqar and he’s definitely going to be tested big times that average suddenly drops from 58 to mid 40s (arguably still the best in that era). He becomes Bharat’s version of Michael Bevan and wins a lot of tricky matches for Bharat.
You put Tendulkar in this era with even superior bats and against today’s bowlers and you basically have a superior version of David Warner who can not only absolutely destroy top notch pace attacks early on but can do the same to top notch spinners in the mid overs. That average of 44 jumps to 60. His century scoring rate gets better and he has 49 centuries in as many matches as Kohl did. Remember that from 35 years on, as Tendulkar got a slight taste of the modern era cricket he himself was smashing 170s, 180s, 200 in ODI cricket for fun. Tendulkar is smashing like five ODI double hundreds in this era he’s an absolute unstoppable beast.
Who’s better? You never know as they played in different eras but just imagine interchanging their eras and then wonder what happens.
Virat Kohli goes to the 1990s with those inferior bags up against Wasim, Mcgrarh, Warne, Murali, Waqar and he’s definitely going to be tested big times that average suddenly drops from 58 to mid 40s (arguably still the best in that era). He becomes Bharat’s version of Michael Bevan and wins a lot of tricky matches for Bharat.
You put Tendulkar in this era with even superior bats and against today’s bowlers and you basically have a superior version of David Warner who can not only absolutely destroy top notch pace attacks early on but can do the same to top notch spinners in the mid overs. That average of 44 jumps to 60. His century scoring rate gets better and he has 49 centuries in as many matches as Kohl did. Remember that from 35 years on, as Tendulkar got a slight taste of the modern era cricket he himself was smashing 170s, 180s, 200 in ODI cricket for fun. Tendulkar is smashing like five ODI double hundreds in this era he’s an absolute unstoppable beast.
Mamoon
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Two new balls or not, Kohli is better than Tendulkar on some fronts and also inferior on other fronts.
He has played innings in white ball cricket that Tendulkar, two new balls or not, would never be able to play just like Tendulkar has played Test knocks that Kohli cannot play.
Ab Fan
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You have failed to apprehend his post.
He is talking about his age, he moved from 49 to 50 in 365 days recently. It's just a funny comment in light of congratulating him for this achievement.
You are welcome to believe that Imam and Fakhar and so many other randoms going around with averages close to 50 are better than Lara and Ponting from earlier era.
I choose to believe otherwise. My reasons are laid out clear enough - fielding rules, reverse and spin taken out of the game thanks to two new balls, more bang for the shots thanks to two new balls and finally, the opening up of cricket's overton window thanks to T20 cricket maturing.
The one format where the rules have not changed - tests - the stalwarts from past still loom large over challengers from the current era. Why's that?
Mamoon
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I think you are arguing with yourself. This is the second time you have brought up Imam and Fakhar when it has nothing to do with the Kohli vs Tendulkar debate.
Of course, batting averages are inflated in this era because of two new balls, but batting averages aren’t the only defining criteria.
Imam and Fakhar won’t be anywhere near a list of the best ODI openers of all time and Babar with his 55+ average isn’t among the top 20 best ODI batsmen in history.
Kohli’s greatness is not about his average but about the great innings that he has played in his career and the match-winning and match-defining performances he has produced.
That transcends eras and goes beyond whatever number of balls in play. For example, his innings against Pakistan in T20 World Cup last year defines who he is.
There are only a handful of batsmen in history who would have won that match for his team in that situation and Tendulkar isn’t one of them.
Kohli has that presence where he can win you a match from any situation and watching Tendulkar didn’t give and millions of others people that feeling, and I loved Tendulkar and I laugh at the notion that he wasn’t a match-winner.
He was a tremendous match-winner but not at Kohli’s level on this front. He had of course other brilliant qualities that he was better at than Kohli.
It is fine to think along those lines as long as you apply the same logic to bowlers. It is perfectly fine to say that Tendulkar, Ponting, Lara etc. were far better than Kohli because fielding rules and two new balls have made life easy for the bowlers,
If you are also willing to say Shaheen is far better than Wasim and Cummins is far better than McGrath and Rabada is far better than Donald and Kuldeep is better than Warne because fielding rules and one new ball that reversed and spun made life easier for the bowlers back then.
A lot of people downplay the achievement of modern great batsmen for XYZ reasons but hesitate to apply the same XYZ reasons to old era bowlers because it goes against their narrative and their perception.
That is not true.
Steve Smith is arguably the best Test batsman since Don.
Joe Root is arguably the best England Test batsman since WWII.
Ashwin is India’s greatest Test spinner and arguably the greatest spin bowling all-rounder in the last 30 years.
Cummins would walk into an Australian Test lineup of the last 50 years.
Quinton De Kock is the best WK batsman south Africa has ever had.
Rabada is very close if not an automatic pick for a South African XI of the last 30 years. Only Donald and Steyn can claim to be better than him.
There are still plenty of phenomenal cricketers in the world and cricket will continue to produce great cricketers just like every other sport will continue to produce great sportsmen.
The conveyor belt of great cricketers will not stop and there is no reason for it to stop but there are fans in every sport that live so much in the past and come up with some many permutations that they can never enjoy and celebrate the present.
This isn’t unique to this generation though. A lot of Australian couldn’t celebrate G. Chappell because he didn’t bat on sticky wickets like the Don.
A lot of Caribbean fans couldn’t celebrate Lara because he was no Sir Viv in their heads.
A lot of Indians couldn’t celebrate Tendulkar because he was no Gavaskar for them and didn’t face the great West Indian attack in their prime.
Similarly, they cannot celebrate Kohli today because of two new balls etc. It is normal for fans, especially cricket fans, to be victims of nostalgia.
20 years down the line, another generation of fans would be scoffing at the idea of a future all- time great Indian batsman drawing comparisons with Kohli because according to them, it would insulting to compare him to Kohli due to XYZ reasons.
sweep_shot
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Kohli without a doubt.
Tendulkar was like the prototype while Kohli was the final product.
Tendulkar was like the prototype while Kohli was the final product.
Not arguing with myself but it's possible I mischaracterized your views. Possibly because there are a lot going around who blandly quote averages as proof of being better. While completely disregarding that batters score more runs these days at a faster clip because of two balls rules and T20 effect finally getting hold.
I think I have a post on this very forum somewhere where I stated exactly what you said above: current batsmen are overrated while the bowlers do not get the same respect even though the game has become further lopsided in favor of batters.
Cummins consistently gets mentioned alongside McGrath and Lillee in AUS even though his body of work is not even close to theirs. Same for Rabada in tests. I also do not think that past greats like Wasim and Donald would have fared any better than the current top dogs in LOIs.
This is one reason why personally I rate Bumrah as being a class of his own. His body of work is never going to be large enough but he's, for me, THE best quick of all time in LOIs. No Wasim, no Garner, nobody gets within toucching distance of Bumrah's genius.
Again you miss the point. Or rather, we are talking past each other. Smith, Kohli, Root - the best of this era do not have a test record that contrasts so absurdly as their LOI numbers vis-a-vis Lara/Tendulkar's generation. A journeyman like Shreyas comes along and averages close to 50 while his shortcomings are well documented.
Not going to take you up on the socio-psychological aspect fan support across generation. It is what it is. I am quite the fan of Kohli myself and he's played some terrific LOI innings (Rohit has played even better ones) but having also followed Sachin since 1996, I know who's been the better ODI bat.
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Guys, please stick to Virat vs Sachin's talk here. No need to discuss other players.
