Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif has responded sharply to the former South African batter AB de Villiers’ comments of ranking Virat Kohli ahead of the legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar in overseas Tests.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaif asserted that Sachin faced bowlers at 150-plus kph during his days, which keeps him way ahead of someone like Kohli in the longest format of the game. Kaif went on to add that Kohli himself had said that he has learnt a lot from the legendary batter.
“No, no, paaji is way ahead in Test matches. If he is comparing the two or putting Virat Kohli above him, I’d say that he is wrong. You cannot keep Virat ahead because of the kind of bowling Sachin Tendulkar faced. Nobody bowls at 150 kph nowadays,” Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
“Just take the wicket-takers in Tests and see how many runs Sachin has scored against them. Virat himself would say that they have learnt a lot from paaji,” he added.
Furthermore, the former Indian batter has also stated that there could be a good debate when it comes to One Day Internationals, adding that Kohli is the chase-master when it comes to white-ball cricket.
“There can be a debate in ODIs, where Virat is the chase master. Virat Kohli is way ahead of Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to chasing in white-ball cricket,” he concluded.
For the unversed, speaking on his YouTube channel, AB had asserted that the talismanic Indian batter Kohli has taken the trend of doing well in bouncy and seaming overseas conditions to another level and raised the bar for his colleagues to up that trend and follow in his footsteps.
“I think of someone like Sachin Tendulkar way back, who started that trend for India. Yet, he wasn’t as strong as someone like Virat Kohli, who was even better. But Sachin was the first guy to show that as a subcontinent batter, you can do well in bouncy and seaming conditions. Virat took that forward and raised the bar,” AB de Villiers had said.
