Since the baton of Indian batting from Sachin Tendulkar was passed on to Virat Kohli there have been numerous comparisons made among the greats of the game. Both of them are regarded as arguably the best players of the format from India. In this article, we will compare the two legends of the game at their peaks of the format.
For the purpose of calculating their peaks, we will take a look at the years in which they scored the most runs. For Sachin the year was 2010 when he scored 1562 runs while for Kohli it was 2018 when he scored 1322 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar in 2010
India tour of Bangladesh
The God of Cricket kicked off 2010 in style as he scored a century in his first test match of the year against Bangladesh in Chattogram, Bangladesh. He scored 105* in the first innings. In the following match, he scored yet another century in Mirpur in the second innings. Tendulkar scored 143 runs.
South Africa tour of India
He carried on with his streak of centuries as he scored a century against South Africa at Nagpur. In the following game, he once again scored a century in Eden Gardens. This was his fourth century in four games.
India tour of Sri Lanka
In his next away assignment in Sri Lanka, he nearly scored his fifth consecutive century. In the first game of the series, he scored a half-century in the third innings and missed out on his century by just 16 runs. In the second game, he made up for not scoring a century as he scored a double century in the second innings. In the third game of the series, he scored a half-century and scored another knock of 41 runs.
Australia tour of India
Australia then visited India for a two-match series. Tendulkar kicked off the series with a score of 98 as he missed out on yet another century for the year. Once again after missing out on a century in a game he followed up with a double century along with another half-century in the match in Bengaluru.
New Zealand tour of India
When New Zealand visited India for a three-match Sachin recorded his worst tours of the year. He scored 126 in four innings in the series and scored one half-century in Nagpur.
India tour of South Africa
For his last tour of the year, Sachin went to South Africa to face what could be the toughest challenge of the year. In the first game at Centurion, he scored a century while in the second game, he had a poor outing as he registered scores of 13 and 6 at Durban.
Virat Kohli in 2018
India tour of South Africa
Sachin’s last series of 2010 came when India toured South Africa while Virat Kohli’s year started with the tour of South Africa. In the first game of the year, Kohli had a poor start at Cape Town as he registered scores of 5 and 28. In the following game, he made up for his poor start as he scored a knock of 153 runs in Centurion. For the third test, India played at Johannesburg where Kohli scored a half-century in the first innings and 41 runs in the third innings.
India tour of England
After South Africa, India’s toughest assignment came as they toured England. This was India’s first tour to England after 2014, where Virat Kohli was at his lowest form. Kohli in the tour of 2014 averaged just 13.40 as he made 134 runs in 10 innings with a highest score of 39. Kohli now had a point to prove as India toured England.
In the first game at Birmingham, the run machine of India scored 149 in the second innings and a half-century in the 4th innings. In the second game at Lord’s, Kohli scored 23 in the first innings and 17 in the third innings. In the third game at Nottingham, Kohli once again showed that he had improved a lot from what he was in 2014. In the first innings, he missed out on his century as he scored 97 runs but in the third innings, he breached that triple-figure mark as he scored 103 runs. In the penultimate game of the series at Southampton, Kohli scored a half-century in the fourth innings and scored 46 runs in the second innings. In the final game of the tour at The Oval, Kohli scored 49 in the second innings and ended his tour on a duck in the fourth innings.
West Indies tour of India
West Indies toured India for a two-match series, in the first game at Rajkot, Kohli scored 139 in the first innings. In the second game at Hyderabad, he scored 45 runs in the first innings.
India tour of Australia
The year, 2018 ended with another challenge as India toured Australia. This tour was considered to be India’s best chance of winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia as the home side was missing players like David Warner and Steve Smith.
In the first game at Adelaide, Kohli registered scores of 3 and 34. In the second game at Perth, the Indian skipper scored a century in the second innings and 17 runs in the fourth innings. In the last game of the year at Melbourne, Kohli scored 82 runs in the first innings before registering a duck in the third innings.
So who is better: Kohli or Sachin?
For both players arguments can be made. Sachin on the one hand scored all these runs when he was 37 years old and against the likes of Dale Steyn, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mitchell Johnson and more. Virat on the other hand scored most of his runs in conditions that were bowler-friendly. Picking one from these two great performances would be tough but one thing is certain these two performances will make both Kohli and Sachin walk into any side.
Also Read: World Cup 2023: How does the schedule benefit India?
“Get more sports news, cricket news, and football updates, log on to sportsdigest.in. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel.”
