Former India pacer Dodda Ganesh hit back at AB de Villiers with a cheeky response on social media while reacting to the South African legend’s assessment rating Virat Kohli above Sachin Tendulkar in bouncy, seam-friendly overseas conditions.
De Villiers triggered an intense online debate by suggesting that while Tendulkar was a pioneer for subcontinent batters, Kohli pushed the standard higher.
"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," the former Proteas captain opined on his YouTube channel.
Ganesh didn’t agree with the assessment and posted a short, blunt reply on X (formerly Twitter). "Pass on the weed, brother," he wrote.
While de Villiers praised Kohli for "raising the bar", career data heavily favors Tendulkar in overseas conditions.
Sachin Tendulkar scored 8,705 runs in 106 away Test matches, maintaining an exceptional average of 54.7 with 29 centuries. On the other hand, Virat Kohli amassed 4,894 runs from 68 Tests on foreign soil with a notably lower average of 41.51, including 16 hundreds.
Several fans also highlighted that Tendulkar boasts superior batting averages in three out of the four SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia). This statistical gap explains why Ganesh—who shared the dressing room with Tendulkar in the late 1990s—found the comparison hard to take seriously.
