A Player of Grace and A Player of Class - Legends of their own era

 

Don't look at the stats. I don't remember them clearly.

There has been many speculations nowadays as who can be regarded as the best batsman India has ever produced. Is it the one and only God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar or the current Indian skipper Virat Kohli? Well here is what I think.

Virat Kohli is not just a name. It’s a feeling. A feeling of confidence that if he is at the crease, no matter how gigantic the target is, it’s going to be chased down. It’s a feeling of emotion, that no matter how much the opponent is going to sledge or mock him, he will reply with his bat and his words too. It’s a feeling of aggression, a feeling of retribution, a feeling of excitement and a feeling of elation. And when it comes to Sachin, you all know what Sachin is.

Kohli came into renown when he led his team to victory in the U-19 cricket world cup. Both he and Srivatsva Goswami were able to make their way in the RCB side for the then IPL season. RCB reached the finals but only one of those two were able to stay in the side. After a virtuous performance in the IPL, Kohli quickly made his way into the Indian team and overwhelmed everyone with his batting skills. He was becoming the key to success for the Indian cricket after constantly delivering good knocks against all the cricket playing nations. He was involved in the most crucial partnership with Gautam Gambhir in the CWC’11 final. But due to the presence of names like Sachin, Gambhir, Sehwag he always remained a silent warrior. But only a couple of years later, he became what he is today, King Kohli. Chasing down massive targets with 5-10 overs to spare, getting involved in crucial partnerships, saving and winning test matches for India, Kohli proved that he is not just your everyday cricketer. He forced everyone to compare him with the God himself, and some regard him even greater than the God.

But till what extent is this comparison vindicated? Let’s compare few factors.

1. Boundaries:- Boundaries used to be a lot bigger when Sachin played and I remember watching videos where he used to just flick the ball, way over the stadium for sixes. Boundaries become shorter since the origin of T20 cricket, when Kohli was just coming up to the surface.

2. Protection:- When Sachin started playing, there was no helmet or thigh pads etc to protect the batsman. It took a lot of confidence to pull the ball over the fence, and Little Master did that.

3. Bowlers:- Sachin played against bowlers like Marshalls, Walsh, McGrath, Pollock, Warne, Akram, Waqar and all. We all know those are incomparable to bowlers nowadays.

4. Technology:- The biggest revolution that has ever came into the game of cricket is technology. Now you can see how a bowler changes his action for dusra, googly, flipper etc. You can see the most dominant zones of any bowler. You can see your weak zones, where you need to work upon.

5. Scenario of the Indian Cricket Team:- Sachin has played in the captaincy over 7-9 captains including Kapil Dev, Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Himself, Rahul Dravid, Virendra Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and maybe others too. And in over a career of 24 years, he has seen the worst and best phases of indian cricket. He has played with a team that had Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and had also played with a team which had Hemang Badani and Rohan Gavaskar. And Virat, he has just played under the captaincy of Dhoni and Himself.

Do you still think the comparison is justified?

There has been many arguments made on the fact that whenever Sachin scores a century, India loses. Well, maybe that’s true. The 148 against Pakistan in ’04 Hutch Cup, couple of hundreds in ’11 CWC, 175 against the Aussies, India lost all the time. But do you not remember the 141 and 134 against the Aussies in the Sharjah cup, where Sachin single handed stole the match away from the Aussies? Have you forgotten the 2008 CB series finals, where Sachin’s century paved the way for India’s Victory? Brush up your mind and remember the Sachin Ganguly duo, the best opening partnership till date in One Day International Cricket. And how can you forget that 200 out of 147 balls, an innings where he just walked in his crease, exposed all his stumps to Dale Steyn and flicked his deliveries to boundaries thrice in an overs! Surely, Sachin went down after the CWC’03, due to injuries. He was not able to play his pull shot that he used against Caddick in 03 WC. He was not able to play the flick shot due to the tennis elbow injury, but he improvised and he came up with some innovative shots. Reverse sweep and paddle sweep are his creation after all.

So, I am not here to say that who is better Virat or Sachin. But I think they have played in two completely different times. One would not be doing justice to those two legends by comparing them. Virat idealizes Sachin and Sachin always praises Virat. And that’s how beautiful the game of cricket is. Let’s leave it to that. I say inspite the comparison, just feel yourself lucky to be born in a time when you have seen both of them spread their magic with the bat on the field and with their smile off the field.