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Australia‘s opening batter, Usman Khawaja, recently weighed in on the comparisons between legendary India cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, ultimately offering his perspective on who holds the title as the superior player in the context of 50-over cricket.
Usman Khawaja’s verdict: Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli
Speaking to Fox cricket on their YouTube channel, Khawaja expressed his view that in the realm of 50-over cricket, Kohli shines as the superior batter. The left-handed opener emphasized Kohli’s proximity to overtaking Tendulkar’s record to become the player with the most centuries in ODIs.
Khawaja acknowledged the formidable challenge it presents for any player to replicate the incredible accomplishments that Kohli has achieved thus far in his illustrious career. The 34-year-old consistency and remarkable performances in the ODI format have established him as one of the all-time greats.
“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.
With 47 ODI tons to his name, Kohli is just two centuries away from matching Tendulkar’s extraordinary tally of 49 centuries in this format.
Also READ: ODI World Cup 2023: England’s captain Jos Buttler reveals his favourite modern-day cricketer; snubs Virat Kohli and Babar Azam
An unprecedented achiever
The 36-year-old attributed Kohli’s exceptional consistency to his risk-free approach to batting. He observed that Kohli prefers accumulating runs through twos and fours rather than relying heavily on six-hitting.
“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 Islamabad-born cricketer concluded.
Kohli’s ODI World Cup 2023 campaign and upcoming clash
As of the moment, Kohli is representing Team India in the ODI World Cup 2023. In three games so far, he has already scored 156 runs with an impressive average of 78. Kohli’s next appearance will be on Thursday (October 19), when India faces Bangladesh in the tournament.
