Former Australia Ian Chappell thinks that the quality of bowling faced by India captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, widely believed to be the two best limited-overs batsmen, is no match for the ones that Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were up against.
Both Kohli and Rohit have managed to achieve astonishing numbers. The captain has 43 One-day International centuries while the Mumbai batsman recently notched up his 28th.
Chappell argued that batting great Tendulkar and former captain and current BCCI president Ganguly, one of the greatest opening pairs in ODIs, had a tougher ask facing the new ball back in their time with nearly every team stocked with quality pacers.
“They [Tendulkar and Ganguly] spent bulk of that time opening together against some of the best fast-bowling combinations,” Chappell wrote for ESPNcricinfo.
Chappell added: “Facing Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis from Pakistan; Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh of West Indies; Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee of Australia; Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock for South Africa; Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka was a serious test of a batsman’s skill.”
Chappell preferred to lean towards Tendulkar and Ganguly as a better pair but gave credit to Kohli and Sharma for their achievements in white-ball cricket. “The one indisputable argument is, Kohli and Sharma are the best-ever white-ball combination,” he wrote. “Their combined ODI and T20I records are excellent, with Kohli – averaging over 50 in both formats – at an unbelievable level.
“To be fair, Tendulkar played very little T20I cricket and Ganguly’s career was finished by the time the format blossomed.”
Explaining the strengths of all four, Chappell wrote that the four are the best white-ball cricketers.
“Like all debates about players from different eras, this one too is superfluous,” he wrote. “Suffice to say Indian fans have been extremely fortunate to witness, close up, four of the best short-form batsmen of all time.”
