As the debate among the fans rages on about Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, senior Australia opening batsman Usman Khawaja has picked the side of the former, hailing Virat Kohli as the greater ODI batsman than Tendulkar.
The left-handed Australian Test opener pointed out that Virat Kohli is very near to Tendulkar’s tally of ODI centuries despite playing a lot fewer matches. Kohli has hit 47 hundreds and 68 fifties in 272 innings, while Tendulkar hit 49 centuries and 96 fifties in 452 ODI knocks. Kohli’s average currently stands at 57 while Tendulkar finished his career with an average of 44 in ODIs.
“I am going to say Virat Kohli is better than Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs. If you look at the stats, he has almost taken over how many hundreds he (Tendulkar) has got, and he has played so many more less games. Sachin was the benchmark for when I grew up, but what Kohli is doing right now—no one has ever done that in the game,” Khawaja said while speaking with Fox Cricket.
Virat Kohli is the greatest two and four-hitter: Usman Khawaja
What makes Virat Kohli so special? Usman Khawaja details a few opinions. It’s Kohli’s elite consistency, he says, adding that Kohli is one of the greatest run-chases of all time.
Khawaja reasons that Kohli is so consistent because of his ability to play risk-averse cricket while keeping the scoreboard ticking with twos and fours.
“He is the greatest of the run chasers that we have seen in One-Day cricket. The thing I love about Virat is his consistency. The reason I believe he is so consistent over such a long period of time is that he is the greatest two and four-hitter I have seen. He doesn’t hit a lot of sixes in ODIs,” the Aussie Test opener added.
Meanwhile, Kohli has started the World Cup 2023 with two fifties in three games. This is likely to be the last ODI World Cup for the 34-year-old Virat Kohli.
