The ongoing debate regarding the relative greatness of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli recently drew a sharp and humorous reaction from former Indian fast bowler Dodda Ganesh. His response targeted recent remarks made by South Africa legend AB de Villiers, who argued that Kohli held the edge over Tendulkar when performing in seam friendly foreign conditions.
Explaining his viewpoint on overseas success, de Villiers offered the following perspective regarding the two batting icons: ‘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’. Furthermore, the former South African batter highlighted how the trailblazing efforts of Tendulkar and Kohli have paved the way for current members of the national team, such as KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal, to adapt more effectively to challenging overseas environments. Addressing Rahul’s development specifically, de Villiers noted that despite possessing a technically sound approach, the opening batsman still needs to convert promising starts into substantial innings away from home. On that subject, he remarked: ‘KL is a guy with a sound technique and is a big asset in that Indian lineup. So you’ll expect more and that is one area where he has to work on. So for him, the name of the game will be to make the big scores even bigger’.
Because that first-ball duck and getting out to the newish ball is always around the corner, he has to get bigger scores once he gets in and not just get a 100 but make it a 180. But he averages only 34 away from home.
The Controversial Comparison And De Villiers Remarks The discussion gained momentum when the former Proteas star expressed his belief that Kohli had elevated the benchmark set by earlier generations.
