Former Indian cricketer and presenter Mohammad Kaif has reacted to the former South African dashing batter AB de Villiers’ comments ranking Virat Kohli ahead of Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to tackling bouncy and seaming overseas Test conditions.
Speaking exclusively on his YouTube channel, Kaif reckoned that Sachin faced bowlers at 150-plus kph, which keeps him way ahead of someone like Kohli in Tests, adding that Kohli himself had stated multiple times that he had learnt a lot from Sachin.
“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.
Additionally, Kaif noted that there could be a good debate in ODIs, adding that Kohli is the chase-master when it comes to white-ball cricket and is slightly ahead of the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
“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.
Delving into the details of AB’s comments, the former South African cricketer had stated that Kohli has taken the trend of doing well in bouncy and seaming overseas conditions to another level.
“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 said on his YouTube channel.
