Areas where Kohli is better than Tendulkar as a player.

[narenpande1]

Pressure: 

 You either crumble under pressure or allow it to effect you in a negative way OR you absorb the pressure and play to your potential (Tendulkar)  OR

you revel in pressure, get pumped up and raise your game ( Kohli ). This also shows in the fact that Kohli's individual performance has risen when captain,

whereas Tendulkar's declined.

 

Clearly, Sachin has absorbed pressure for so many years, BUT Kohli has pumped himself and raised his game under pressure.

 

Fitness:

Needless to say one has to be remarkably fit (and very lucky) to play top level sport for as long as Tendulkar.  But I think one can see that Kohli

takes fitness to a level no Indian cricketer ever has. I don't think there is a fitter cricketer today- even among Saffies, Aussies or any other team.

I dare say, should India play 10/11 test matches on avg every year, he will even break Tendulkar's test records.

 

Attitude:

 

Kohli's attitude to the competing teams is - don't FCUK with my team. He is fiercely protective and uber competetive. The greatest aspect is 

he gives a rat @$$ about his personal numbers, which are remarkable as it is.  He just wants India to win at all costs. 

Have followed both their careers closely, but also feel more reassured when Kohli is batting than Tendulkar was at his peak. Kohli looks more in control.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2016 by narenpande1

[Cricketics]

He is surely better to me under pressure but as the big number just flashed on the screen and it said "4000 Runs" it just reminds you and me and all of us that he is far far far away from someone who scored for India about 16,000 runs in test cricket. Yes, that is 12,000 runs more you have.

So I want to see where Kohli is after next 5000 runs. I believe he will break all the world records out there, but to call him better than Tendulkar in any way in test cricket, is way too early for now.

 

Comparing Kohli's fitness, attitude and how he did under pressure etc in his first 4000 runs he has scored is not ideal comparison with Tendulkar's 16000 runs career.

 

Again, 4000 runs is he all got in test cricket. Comparison should just stop right there. He can be compared to some players who have scored total of 8k and were greats from their country. Not Tendulkar or Dravid, who scored plenty of runs.

[Singh bling]

Can't say about limited over cricket , but Kohli is playing in Era when when quality of test team is quite poor.Most teams are nowhere close to what they were in 90s , so comparison is difficult

[rkt.india]

3 minutes ago, Singh bling said:

Can't say about limited over cricket , but Kohli is playing in Era when when quality of test team is quite poor.Most teams are nowhere close to what they were in 90s , so comparison is difficult

How is that? SL, WI, Zimbabwe, NZ, England were average to poor in 90s. England is a good test team now. NZ is still average. SL is still the same. Zimbabwe still poor. Only West Indies which has really gone down. Bangladesh got better.

[Vijy]

Better in ODIs, esp whilst chasing.

[sandeep]

Harsh to criticize Tendy on fitness - he was always in the fittest in the team.  But yes, Kohli outdoes Tendy in sheer dogged mindedness.  Ponting had it.  That desire and ability to grab a game with both hands and just refuse to let go.  Tendy in his pomp, was from a skill perspective, a notch above Kohli, but didn't have that mongrel in him.  

[Sandeep99]

Sorry, he is not better than Sachin, be it in array of shots, mental strength, or temperament. Probably Kohli's captaincy is better (but Sachin was burdened and played against stronger teams with a weak team he led). Let's not demean any of them by doing this comparison. Apples and oranges..

[Vijy]

1 minute ago, sandeep said:

Harsh to criticize Tendy on fitness - he was always in the fittest in the team.  But yes, Kohli outdoes Tendy in sheer dogged mindedness.  Ponting had it.  That desire and ability to grab a game with both hands and just refuse to let go.  Tendy in his pomp, was from a skill perspective, a notch above Kohli, but didn't have that mongrel in him.  

SRT at peak was more than one notch above VK... very compact in defense and a dazzling array of shots.

[rkt.india]

6 minutes ago, Sandeep99 said:

Sorry, he is not better than Sachin, be it in array of shots, mental strength, or temperament. Probably Kohli's captaincy is better (but Sachin was burdened and played against stronger teams with a weak team he led). Let's not demean any of them by doing this comparison. Apples and oranges..

He had likes Siddhu, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Azhar, Kumble, Srinath in this team. Was that a weak team?

[rkt.india]

Kohli is yet to reach his real potential in test cricket.

[sandeep]

8 minutes ago, Vijy said:

SRT at peak was more than one notch above VK... very compact in defense and a dazzling array of shots.

I didn't say how big the notch was

 

Yeah.  People who didn't watch Tendy in the late 90s, when he was at his best, don't know what they missed.  And he did it often coming in at 20/2 with the shit openers we used to have back then.  

[Singh bling]

7 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

How is that? SL, WI, Zimbabwe, NZ, England were average to poor in 90s. England is a good test team now. NZ is still average. SL is still the same. Zimbabwe still poor. Only West Indies which has really gone down. Bangladesh got better.

SA entered cricket and started dominating it ,England now is off the track ,Drawn home series against ordinary Pakistan team and lost to BD.SL too became very good team from mid 90s.

 

When an pretty ordinary team like Pakistan is at top of charts of test rankings then you can imagine what is the quality of test cricket now

[Sandeep99]

3 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

He had likes Siddhu, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Azhar, Kumble, Srinath in this team. Was that a weak team?

With all due respect, it was only during Ganguly's captaincy that Dravid blossomed. India's team in early noughties was obviously much better than the players you mentioned in the 90s.. probably only Kumble in '90s was better than Kumble in '00s

[Vijy]

11 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

He had likes Siddhu, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Azhar, Kumble, Srinath in this team. Was that a weak team?

They probably mean the pre-Ganguly-Dravid-VVS era. I believe Tendu's peak can be viewed as 1993-2011, and from 2001 onwards, he was part of one of the strongest batting lineups in the world (possibly the second after Oz). He had 2-3 outstanding players (Dravid, VVS and Laxman) and 1-2 good ones (Ganguly, Gambhir for some yrs). Hence, he was part of a strong batting lineup for more than 50% of his peak career. Even in 1990s, there were players like Sidhu, Azhar who avg 40+ and some others who avg around 35+ (like Sanju).

 

In terms of bowling, I feel that VK is part of a team with better bowling. But, his batting colleagues are pretty poor - none average near 50, except for Chepu (whose stats are heavily bolstered at home).

Edited December 10, 2016 by Vijy

[narenpande1]

SRT at his peak and before the tennis elbow had a breathtaking array of shots...moreso than Kohli.

 

But having followed both, Kohli gives MORE REASSURANCE..sort of a mixture of solidity of Dravid plus the stroke making ability of Tendulkar.

 

SRT totally crumbled under captaincy pressures not once but in both the stints..whereas Virat has better numbers as captain !

 

Most of us Indian fans salivate and that " desert storm " innings as the pinnacle of SRT's batting - whereas I find it EXTREMELY OVERRATED.

 

There are great emotions because of what we needed to qualify and his domination of Aus in that series and Tony Greig's orgasmic commentary.

 

But guess who was bowling there - Tom Moody, Kasprowicz, Steve Waugh, Fleming and a Shane Warne just back from a major shoulder operation. One of the most ordinary Aussie ODI attacks.It was not on some batting minefield but a typical Sharjah patta.

 

Sehwag has decimated far more gruesome Pakistani attacks on their soil even more brutally. 

 

But it is Sachin's " desert storm" knock that people remember - not for the right reasons but emotions.

 

Infact compare that desert storm knock of Tendulkar on that Sharjah pitch, to Kohli hammering Malinga 145K yorkers for 6 even when needed to qualify for the finals in a very similar situation in Australia..  Kohli's knock stands out.

 

Kohli has atleast 5 more years of this level of performance to establish himself as a legend, pretty sure unless there is a serious mishap.......he is going to hammer all records.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2016 by narenpande1

[sandeep]

5 minutes ago, Singh bling said:

SA entered cricket and started dominating it ,England now is off the track ,Drawn home series against ordinary Pakistan team and lost to BD.SL too became very good team from mid 90s.

 

When an pretty ordinary team like Pakistan is at top of charts of test rankings then you can imagine what is the quality of test cricket now

Tendy at his best faced up against the really good Aussie side in its heyday.  Warne's late 90s tour of India was super-hyped up - Tendy practiced with a roughed up track, had Siva bowling at him.  Come the series, he dropped 2 hundreds on the aussies.  I think he even batted against them in the warm-up game, playing for the Bombay team.  

 

But forget the numbers and the achievements.  If you just looked at him bat in the 90s - the sheer range and quality of shots, the immaculate solidity of defence.  He was ridiculously consistent.   And always looked set from ball one.  You didn't see him play and miss that often.  It was batting on a higher plane - there's a reason why the Don said watching Tendy reminded him of himself, even though they are nowhere near alike in batting technique.

[Vijy]

Just now, narenpande1 said:

SRT at his peak and before the tennis elbow had a breathtaking array of shots...moreso than Kohli.

 

But having followed both, Kohli gives MORE REASSURANCE..sort of a mixture of solidity of Dravid plus the stroke making ability of Tendulkar.

 

SRT totally crumbled under captaincy pressures not once but in both the stints..whereas Virat has better numbers as captain !

 

Most of us Indian fans salivate and that " desert storm " innings as the pinnacle of SRT's batting - whereas I find it EXTREMELY OVERRATED.

 

There are great emotions because of what we needed to qualify and his domination of Aus in that series and Tony Greig's orgasmic commentary.

 

But guess who was bowling there - Tom Moody, Kasprowicz, Steve Waugh, Fleming and a Shane Warne just back from a major shoulder operation. One of the most ordinary Aussie ODI attacks.It was not on some batting minefield but a typical Sharjah patta.

 

Sehwag has decimated far more gruesome Pakistani attacks on their soil even more brutally. 

 

But it is Sachin's knock that people remember - not for the right reasons but emotions.

 

Infact compare that desert storm knock of Tendulkar on that Sharjah pitch, to Kohli hammering Malinga 145K yorkers for 6 even when needed to qualify for the finals in a very similar situation.  Kohli's knock stands out.

 

Kohli has atleast 5 more years of this level of performance to establish himself as a legend, pretty sure unless there is a serious mishap

he is going to hammer all records.

 

 

I concur with some of these observations, but the Oz attack was not really "weak". There may have been no McGrath or Brett Lee (their ODI pacers with the best records), but Fleming, Kasp were underrated bowlers with excellent bowling records. Even in that era, the bowling avg of <25 was not common, and Kasp played in the 2000s as well. As for Warne, he did pretty well against other teams in the same period, even if not at the peak level. I agree that Moody was quite c**p, but Waugh again was a useful batting allrounder. One must remember that in ODIs, being a very effective bowler does not mean that they are excellent Test bowlers. Although that Oz attack was not at the peak, I'd say it had at least 2-3 excellent-to-good ODI bowlers, and Waugh bros were a fairly effective 5th bowler. Therefore, a fairly good attack.

[rkt.india]

12 minutes ago, Singh bling said:

SA entered cricket and started dominating it ,England now is off the track ,Drawn home series against ordinary Pakistan team and lost to BD.SL too became very good team from mid 90s.

 

When an pretty ordinary team like Pakistan is at top of charts of test rankings then you can imagine what is the quality of test cricket now

How can you say Pakistan is ordinary if they are on top of the charts?

[Vijy]

2 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Tendy at his best faced up against the really good Aussie side in its heyday.  Warne's late 90s tour of India was super-hyped up - Tendy practiced with a roughed up track, had Siva bowling at him.  Come the series, he dropped 2 hundreds on the aussies.  I think he even batted against them in the warm-up game, playing for the Bombay team.  

 

But forget the numbers and the achievements.  If you just looked at him bat in the 90s - the sheer range and quality of shots, the immaculate solidity of defence.  He was ridiculously consistent.   And always looked set from ball one.  You didn't see him play and miss that often.  It was batting on a higher plane - there's a reason why the Don said watching Tendy reminded him of himself, even though they are nowhere near alike in batting technique.

Indeed, Tendu at his best had a solidity that surpassed even Kallis, Dravid, etc. and others known more for their defensive game. He had the skills to average 60, and he did avg around 59 from 1993-mid 2011 (remarkable in itself for nearly 18.5 yrs). But, if he had Kohli's drive and temperament, could have easily ended with 65+ in that period.

[Vijy]

2 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

How can you say Pakistan is ordinary if they are on top of the charts?

Dunno why poster called them "ordinary" - I don't think they are as good as the 90s team (even if the current team's record is better), but they are still ranked high for some reasons.