Who is a better cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli? This is a question that is being asked again and again by critics as well as fans all over the world. A guy who watches cricket or knows about cricket has knowledge about the contributions these players have given to the game of cricket. Let’s take a look into the statistics and compare these players here.
Let’s find out who is better than whom.
Sachin Tendulkar:
Sachin Tendulkar is one of the biggest names that have ever heard in the game of cricket. There are no words to describe this man’s game and the passion that he showered towards it. Starting his cricket journey at an early age of 16 in 1989, he entertained and provided a lot of memories to cherish.
Biography:
Sachin Tendulkar was born on April 24, 1973 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He played his career majorly as an opener in the ODI’s and as middle order batsmen in the tests. He is also the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket.
Cricket career:
Sachin started his journey as an international cricketer in the year 1989 playing a test series against Pakistan in their home country. In 1990, Sachin scored his first century in international cricket with a ton against England at Old Trafford stadium. He became the most important player in the team after his fast 148 against Australia in the 1992 Australian tour.
Lovingly called as the “Master blaster”, Sachin scored his first ODI ton against Sri Lanka in Colombo. It was in the year 1994 and in his 78th international match. This was the first among that marvellous 49 that he scored throughout his career.
Cricket Records:
When it comes to cricket records, there is nobody to compete with Sachin Tendulkar in international cricket. In his 24 year career he has written almost all the batting records in his name. Sachin is the highest run scorer in one day international as well as test cricket with a total of 18,426 and 15,921 runs respectively. He also holds the unique record of scoring more than 30,000 runs in international cricket. Sachin is also the king of centuries as he is the only player to score 100 international tons (51 in tests and 49 in ODI’s). In 2010, Sachin became the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket. He scored 200* runs in that match. Also the player who has played the most number of test and ODI matches, Sachin represented the Indian blue for 200 tests and 463 ODI’s.
Here are 5 best innings of Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin in IPL:
Sachin Tendulkar only played a single T20I and stated that T20 is not his form of cricket. But coming to the IPL, he played for the Mumbai franchise for 6 seasons becoming one of the most successful batsmen in IPL history. He played for the team Mumbai Indians in 78 IPL matches scoring a total of 2334 runs. He was also the first Indian player to win the orange cap for highest run scorer of the tournament back in 2010.
Virat Kohli:
Young Indian captain and one of the best cricketers of this era, Virat Kohli is genuinely a great competition to Sachin Tendulkar in International cricket. Even in his short span of career he has managed to take the name of a good captain as well a talented cricketer.
Biography:
As the U19 world cup winning captain of the Indian junior team, Virat Kohli made his first appearance in the International cricket in 2008. With a series of consistent performances he made his way to the Indian World Cup squad of 2011. In his debut world cup match he scored a century. Later in that year he made his Test debut and was given the national team Vice-captain position. In 2014, after the retirement of MS Dhoni from test cricket Virat Kohli was appointed as the captain of the international test team. Also after the step down of MS Dhoni as the ODI captain Kohli was given the team baton.
To read a detailed biography: A tribute to Virat Kohli
Cricket Career:
Virat started playing cricket at the early ages and was recognised by the Delhi cricket association. Later he was selected to the national squad of Indian Under-19 team. It was under the captaincy of Virat Kohli that the Indian team won the U19 world cup in 2008. After this he made his ODI debut in 2008 at an early age of 19. By the age of 24 he was appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian senior team.
Batting records:
Kohli is the exact successor of Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to the batting records. Within the young age of 32 Kohli has written most of the cricket records in his name. He is the batsmen to reach the 10,000 and 11,000 mark in ODI’s with the least number of matches. He reached these milestones in his 202 and 222nd innings respectively. He is also the batsmen with the highest batting averages in one day internationals as well as test. Kohli from his career of 12 years has represented India in 248 ODI’s and has scored 11867 runs with a high score of 183 scored against Pakistan in 2012 Asia cup semi-finals. He has scored a total of 43 ODI centuries till date. From a total of 86 test matches he has scored a total of 7240 runs with an amazing average of 53.62. His high score is 252* and has scored a total of 27 test centuries too.
Here are the 5 best innings of Virat Kohli
Kohli in IPL:
Virat Kohli represents Royal Challengers Bangalore from the very first season of IPL IN 2008. He is one of the best players who have played in the IPL history. Also Kohli is the highest run scorer in the IPL history with more than 5000 runs. In the debut season of 2008, Kohli played for 12 IPL matches and managed to score 165 runs only. In the next 2 seasons his performance improved a lot. In the 2012 season he was the second highest run scorer for RCB just after Chris Gayle. In that season he scored a total of 557 runs. In 2015, with the amazing batting performance, Kohli took RCB in to the playoffs and in the 2016 season he made RCB the runners-up, also by breaking the record of highest run taker in IPL. He won the orange cap that season by scoring 973 runs which includes 4 centuries.
Who is the better player?
Comparing the facts and the statistics listed above, these both players have redefined the approach of Indians towards cricket in India. Also both these players represent the national team of 2 different eras. Sachin started his game at the time when pacers were a great deal. He started his game playing against Wasim Akram and Courteny Walsh. Spinners like Shane Warne also ruled the field during his career. Coming to Kohli he plays against world-class pacers like Micheal Starc and James Anderson. So one thing is for sure, both these players are legends, the legends of their time.
Take here a look at the 5 big Sachin Tendulkar records that Kohli can break
