Melbourne: Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has said that Virat Kohli’s fetish for big hundreds is similar to the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, who was the ‘hardest to get out’ with a technique which ‘didn’t have a weakness’.
Michael Clarke said he can’t recall a batsman as complete as sachin Tendulkar during his playing days.
“Probably technically the best batsman (Sachin Tendulkar) I ever saw, the hardest batsman to get out. I think Sachin, technically, didn’t have a weakness. Part of you hoped that he made a mistake while batting,” Michael Clarke told the ‘Big sports Breakfast’ radio show.
Clarke then went on heap praise on Virat Kohli, calling him the best batsman across all formats among the current lot.
“I think right now Kohli is the best batsman across all three formats. His one day and T20 records are phenomenal and he’s also found a way to dominate Test cricket. What Kohli and Tendulkar have in common is they love making big hundreds,” Clarke pointed out when asked for similarities between the two.
Tendulkar is the only cricketer to have played 200 Test matches and scored 100 international centuries. He smashed 51 centuries in Tests and 49 in ODIs and holds the record for most runs in both formats – 15,921 runs in Tests and 18,426 in 463 ODIs. Tendulkar retired in 2013 after an emotional home Test series against the West Indies.
Clarke who also led Australia to their title triumph in the 2015 World Cup, scored 8643 runs in 115 Test matches and 28 hundreds to his name. In ODIs, he managed 7981 runs in 245 matches. In his prime, Clarke was a very stylish batsman and has also scored a triple century against India, something which Tendulkar could not do and Kohli is yet to achieve.
Agencies