Sanjay Manjrekar ends Sachin Tendulkar vs Virat Kohli debate in ODI cricket with unfiltered verdict

In the ongoing debate surrounding Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has made a significant statement. Manjrekar boldly declared that Kohli outperforms the great Tendulkar as a chaser in One Day Internationals (ODIs). Manjrekar acknowledged both players as two of the best ODI batters of all time, but he noted that Kohli has outperformed Tendulkar in this area by displaying exceptional poise for the Indian side in high-pressure chase scenarios.

While Tendulkar had many strengths in his time, Manjrekar pointed out in an interview with Star Sports that Kohli stands out in the world of ODI cricket due to his exceptional ability to chase down targets.

“One major difference between the two is that I think Virat Kohli is a better chaser than Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar liked batting first, and Tendulkar perhaps was a certainty that he was not going to get out against the new ball," Manjrekar said.

“Virat will have several matches where he has chased down the target and has stayed on till the end. Tendulkar has a few matches but not the numbers that Virat Kohli has," Manjrekar added.

The celebrated Indian cricketer, Virat Kohli, now 36 years old, boasts an impressive tally of 82 international centuries across all formats. His latest century was scored during India's commanding six-wicket win over their long-time rivals, Pakistan.

Before this outstanding performance, Kohli went through a tough phase where he struggled to find form during the Test series against New Zealand, leading to disappointing results for both him and the team.

Kohli made headlines by becoming the fastest batsman to reach 14,000 runs in One Day Internationals (ODIs), breaking the previous record set by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. He achieved this milestone during a Champions Trophy match against Pakistan in Dubai.

At present, Kohli is only the third batsman in ODIs to surpass 14,000 runs, following the footsteps of Tendulkar (18,246 runs) and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 runs). Remarkably, Kohli reached the 14,000-run milestone in just 287 innings, making him the quickest to do so. In contrast, Tendulkar needed 350 innings, while Sangakkara took 378 innings to hit the same mark.

Interestingly, both Kohli and Tendulkar reached their 14,000th ODI run against Pakistan. Kohli achieved this by scoring 15 runs, finishing with a boundary through covers off Haris Rauf in the 13th over of the chase. Additionally, it's noteworthy that Kohli also holds the record for being the fastest to reach 13,000 runs, a feat he accomplished in September 2023 against Pakistan during the Asia Cup.

Also read| India vs New Zealand, Champions Trophy: Head-to-head record and stats in ODIs - All you need to know