Shoaib Akhtar, the former Pakistani fast bowler, recently shared his opinion on Sachin Tendulkar’s captaincy, stating that although he believes Tendulkar to be the best batsman in the world, he seemed lost as a captain. Akhtar further mentioned that Tendulkar had given up the captaincy due to the pressure he faced.
Akhtar’s comments came up while discussing Virat Kohli, another former Indian captain, as Tendulkar and Kohli are often compared due to their batting prowess. Many cricket experts consider them two of the biggest match-winners with bats in Indian cricket history. He said:
“See, Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman in the world. But as a captain, he was lost. He left the captaincy himself. I talked to one of my friends about Virat Kohli, and we discussed the same thing. He was lost and would perform when he worked on his mind. When his mind became free, he ruled the T20 World Cup.”
Shoaib Akhtar also praised Virat Kohli, highlighting that almost 40 of Kohli’s centuries have come in run chases, and India used to win matches because of his hundreds. Akhtar stated that he does not praise Kohli for his batting prowess.
Kohli is currently playing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 against Australia, but he has struggled in the series so far, scoring a highest of 44 runs from five innings. The 34-year-old has been going through a rough patch in Test cricket over the last few seasons, failing to score a half-century in the format since January 2022, when he hit 79 runs against South Africa in Cape Town.
Virat Kohli vs. Sachin Tendulkar’s Batting Stats
Sachin Tendulkar remains the highest run-scorer in international cricket, amassing 34,357 runs in 664 matches across all three game formats. On the other hand, Virat Kohli has scored 25,047 runs in 493 matches. Kohli recently surpassed Tendulkar’s record to become the fastest batter to score 25,000 runs in international cricket.
