NEW DELHI: The debate over who is the greatest – Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli – will never be silenced. The question has been asked of many former cricketers, and recently, former India captain Sourav Ganguly found himself in the middle of it.In terms of most international runs, Tendulkar holds the top spot with 34,357, while Kohli is among the top three with over 28,000 runs under his belt. Kohli has already surpassed Tendulkar’s record for the most ODI centuries, with 53 to his name, compared to Tendulkar’s 49 in his illustrious career.
In Tests, Tendulkar has 51 centuries, while Kohli has 30. Tendulkar amassed 15,921 runs in Tests, while Kohli has scored 9,230 runs.During the event, Ganguly was asked by a host: “Tell me, there is a debate – an unending debate – and we want to reach a closure on it. Virat or Sachin?“Ask me, both of them are great and I am the happiest. Both of them are from India, both of them have won so many matches for India. You cannot even imagine. Because when you play, you realize how difficult it is to score so many runs, so many centuries. [Don’t ask me that. Both are great, both are very good, and I am happiest that both are from India. They have won so many matches for India. You cannot even imagine, because when you play, you realise how difficult it is to score so many runs and so many centuries]” Ganguly said during a show on TV9.“Sachin Tendulkar is a very good player. I have seen him from his side, I have played so much with him. Whenever I played with him for two or ten days, my father in the house always told me that my friend should not look down on my game. Every now and then my wife would ask me why I was getting worse in the game. I don’t want to say that there is such a big player at the other end and there is an average player at the other end so I never want my game to go down. [Sachin Tendulkar is a very great player. I have seen him from close quarters, I have played so much with him. When I had opened around 250 ODIs with him, I would always come home and say that my game should not go down. Sometimes my wife would ask why, since form goes up and down. I would say no — people will say that at one end there is such a great player and at the other end there is an average player. So I never wanted my game to dip]”, he said.“[Aur main 1 cheez life mein believe karta hoon ki aap acche logon ke saath kheloge na jo aapse behtareen player hain, jo aapse stronger player hai, aapka game bhi improve hota hai kyunki aapka level bhi wo ban jaata hai. Isliye mere hisaab se Virat Kohli aur Sachin Tendulkar ke beech comparison hona nahi chahiye. Dono Bharat ke hain. But main Sachin ko bahut paas se dekha hoon aur bahut bade player hai wo. [One thing I believe in life is that when you play with good people, players who are better and stronger than you, your game also improves because your level rises to theirs. So in my opinion, there should not be a comparison between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Both belong to India. But I have seen Sachin very closely, and he is a very great player]Ganguly said.