On Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar Debate, Kapil Dev's No-Nonsense Reply

Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are arguably the two best batters of their respective eras. Tendulkar, who made his international debut in 1989, scored 100 centuries (51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs) before hanging his boots in 2013. Kohli, on the other hand, has been ruling the roost for more than a decade now. So far, Kohli has scored 74 international tons (27 in Tests, 46 in ODIs and one in T20Is), the most by any active players. The 34-year-old is just three ODI tons from equalling Tendulkar's all-time record of 49 hundreds.

While Kohli has often been compared to Tendulkar, opinions have been divided as to who is the greatest batter of all time.

During a recent interaction, India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev, was asked to pick between the long-standing debate of who's the better batter between Sachin and Kohli.

However, Dev gave a perfect reply, saying that while anyone can have their picks, the new era will have better players, as compared to the previous ones.

"A player of that calibre, you don't have to pick one or two. It's a team of XI players. I might have my own likes or dislikes, but every generation is going to get better. In our time, Sunil Gavaskar was one of the finest then we saw Rahul Dravid, Sachin, Virender Sehwag and this generation Rohit, Virat and next generation will be better. You will see a better cricketer and performing better," Dev told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.

Speaking of Kohli, the former India captain has found his lost mojo, scoring three centuries in his last six ODI outings.

source https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/on-virat-kohli-vs-sachin-tendulkar-comparison-kapil-devs-no-nonsense-response-3714024