Will the Kohli-Tendulkar comparisons ever stop?
For over a quarter of a century, "Sachin Tendulkar" has been a wonderful topic for gossip for cricket fans around the world. We have debated about the splendour in his stroke-play, his match winning abilities, his place in history, and whether the game of cricket has seen a better man wielding a willow than him.
And of course, over the course of more than two decades, Tendulkar has been compared to a host of greats in the sport. We first compared him to Sunil Gavaskar. Both men were short in physical stature, both hailed from Mumbai, both of them were pretty much the only hope for their respective batting line-ups.
Then, as the 1990’s drew to a close, we compared him to a host of other great players of his era, including the likes of Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting. Tendulkar’s critics argued that Ponting played more match winning knocks than the Little Master, and that Lara played in a team, where he was the only source of hope. But then, the cacophony was drowned by the outpouring of emotion in favour of Tendulkar.
And, of course, when the great Don himself remarked that Tendulkar’s batting style resembled his, we even compared the two legendary batsmen, whose playing careers were almost seventy year apart, where the challenges were totally different.
And now, even after his retirement, he still continues to be in the discussion, courtesy of a man called Virat Kohli.
After the retirement of Tendulkar, many cricket fans wondered whether any mortal batsman could ever be spoken in the same breath as Tendulkar, as to whether any batsman could ever even come remotely close to the numbers that he generated. For, when Tendulkar retired from the sport, he had generated such staggering numbers, it almost sent you into a dizzy.
But then, such is the nature of sport that nothing lasts forever. For the last five years, Kohli has been plundering and ripping apart bowling attacks, no opposition has been able to dislodge him, and he has emerged as the monarch of all that he has surveyed.
Ultimately, when the greatness of a batsman is discussed, numbers will have to come into play. We, the current generation of fans, never saw Bradman bat. But then, we cling on to that one number - that one number that makes him immortal, that one number that makes him tower over anybody else, that one number that gives no room for comparison - 99.94.
It has almost come to define who Bradman was, even though none of us today, have seen him play.
But then, is that right?
Ten years down the line, will Kohli be considered a better batsman than Tendulkar just because he goes on to score more hundreds than the Little Master? The most ironical part of the Kohli-Tendulkar comparison is, the only two people who are not bothered about it, are Kohli and Tendulkar themselves.
In fact, in an event to celebrate his historic 100th 100 in 2012, Tendulkar had stated that Kohli and Rohit Sharma had the potential to go past his Himalayan records. And of course, time and again, Kohli has told about how he had grown up watching the halo of Tendulkar, and how no other Indian cricketer can ever be put in the same pedestal as India's Master Blaster.
Comparisons, beyond a certain point turn futile, especially when you are taking of two great players of totally different eras. “Kohli got to 10000 runs faster than Tendulkar,” argues a Kohli fan.
“But Kohli scored his runs against easier bowling attacks, and in extremely batsman friendly conditions,” reverts a Tendulkar fan.
The question is - will this ever end? Will we stop doing what we love doing so much?Comparisons.