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While recognising both as two of the greatest ODI batters of all time, Sanjay Manjrekar gave his take on who among Kohli and Tendulkar is the better chaser.
Who Is A Better Chaser- Sachin Tendulkar Or Virat Kohli? Sanjay Manjrekar Answers (Picture credit: AFP)
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has made a big admission on the big debate between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, saying that Kohli is a better chaser in ODIs than batting legend Tendulkar.
While recognising both as two of the greatest ODI batters of all time, Manjrekar pointed out that Kohli has seen out more high-pressure chases for the country compared to Tendulkar.
Speaking to Star Sports, Manjrekar said that while Tendulkar had multiple advantages in his time, Kohli’s capability to chase down targets is unmatched.
“One major difference between the two is that I think Virat Kohli is a better chaser than Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar liked batting first, and Tendulkar perhaps was a certainty that he was not going to get out against the new ball,” Manjrekar said.
“Virat will have several matches where he has chased down the target and has stayed on till the end. Tendulkar has a few matches but not the numbers that Virat Kohli has,” Manjrekar added.
The star India batter, 36, has 82 international hundreds across all formats, with his latest coming in India’s commanding six-wicket win against arch-rivals Pakistan.
But before this, Kohli had struggled for runs at home in the Test series against New Zealand, which was a disaster for him as well as the team.
Kohli created history as he became the quickest batter to score 14,000 runs in ODIs, surpassing Tendulkar’s previous record, during the Champions Trophy clash against Pakistan in Dubai.
Kohli is now just the third batter in ODIs to have scored 14,000 runs, after Tendulkar (18,246 runs) and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 runs).
Kohli is the quickest-ever to the milestone, having completed his 14,000 ODI runs in 287 innings. Before him, Tendulkar had taken 350 innings to reach the feat, while Sangakkara took 378 outings.
Both Kohli and Tendulkar scored their 14,000th ODI run against Pakistan, in what is a brilliant coincidence.
Kohli required just 15 runs to reach the milestone, which he did with a boundary through covers off Haris Rauf in the 13th over of the run chase.
Kohli was the fastest to 13,000 runs as well, which he completed in September 2023 against Pakistan in Colombo during the Asia Cup.
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