Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are arguably two of the greatest modern-day batsmen of all time. Both have amassed runs for fun and have broken several records amazing the fans and critics alike.
While Tendulkar is considered the greatest batsman of his generation, similar words are used to describe Virat Kohli. The Mumbai batsman has most of the batting records to his name in both formats of the game. However, the Delhi batsman is catching up to the legend quickly.
Fans are in an ongoing debate of who is the better batsman and keep comparing the two using numerous statistics and figures. This however becomes difficult and makes no sense sometimes since the two have played in different eras.
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar opined on the ongoing arguments and said that people should stop comparing the two batting greats. He added that Sachin Tendulkar faced greats like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Shane Warne.
"Virat making mistake by being a captain," Shoaib Akhtar recalls his words to Anushka Sharma
"There’s an embargo on cricket. How can there be three circles in the field? I mean…give Sachin Tendulkar credit and stop comparing him to Virat Kohli. He did not play the era of Sachin Tendulkar, which is like the single era of 50 overs, and then the reverse swing starts literally after 10 overs. Face that with Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and the spin of Shane Warne,” Shoaib Akhtar told Sportskeeda.
"Every team had its specialists. [Lance] Klusener, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, there were five quality fast bowlers in every country. How many do you have now? There’s Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, but then what?" he questioned.
The former cricketer also talked about how ICC was favoring batsmen and putting lots of restrictions on the bowlers and blamed TRP for the same.
"How many fast bowlers in the world have you seen who can bowl 150 kmph, and how many people are allowed to play this game according to the old wishes? The ICC has put a lot of restrictions, and what do you want? You want TRP, you will get it. But if you got to see the characters, you need to lift the restrictions," he said.
