Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have some fantastic numbers when it comes to their batting as a pair but in many senses, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar faced better fast bowlers in terms of quality which was tougher for them to handle.
“An argument could be mounted that Kohli and Sharma are India’s best-ever one-day batsmen. The obvious challengers would be the feted combination of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, who tormented international bowlers for 15 years,” Chappell stated in the recent column he wrote for ESPNCricinfo.
He supported this argument of his by giving a swift example.
He wrote, “They spent the bulk of that time opening together against some of the best fast-bowling combinations. 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.”
When it came to Virat and Rohit he stated, “It’s not so much the huge scores that stamp Kohli’s class but the regularity of his success. He punishes bowlers all round the wicket by keeping the ball on the ground the bulk of the time. Thanks to him eliminating a lot of the risk in batting, his scores are consistently high but still amassed at a good rate.
