India has always been a leading country when it comes to Cricket. Team India has given several legendary players to the cricket world. And when we talk about Cricket, two names immediately pop up in our head; Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. You have got to be special to make it to the Indian cricket team and even more special to become a legend in that team. That is what players like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli have achieved. While Tendulkar is called the “GOD of cricket,” Kohli has also achieved the “extraordinaire” status in the world of Cricket. However, none can deny that both the players have seen unprecedented success due to their hard work, conviction, discipline, and honesty towards their game.

The former Australian international cricketer Glenn MacGrath, in one of his interviews said “You have got to have something special to get noticed among 1.3-1.4 billion people; you gotta have that X-factor. Even among cricketers around the world, what Indian cricketers can achieve and can have, is to the next level as compared to everyone else. Cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are like “Gods.” When asked about Virat Kohli, he continued, “I like Virat Kohli, I like his attitude, he is aggressive, but he is a class player. I like his attitude in the field; he is probably more aggressive than most other Indian players that we have seen in the past. As a captain, he leads from the front; that’s why he is one of the best players in the world.

Let us discuss more about both the legends in detail and look at their stats.

VIRAT KOHLI

Virat Kohli played his first match for the Delhi under-15 team, at the age of 13, in the Polly Umrigar Trophy, where he emerged as the highest scorer. Virat was then selected for the Under-19 India tour of England in July 2006. Interestingly, team India won that series. In 2008, Kohli became the captain of Team India at ICC under-19 World Cup held in Malaysia. In the same year, Virat was picked up by RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore), an IPL franchise, for INR 20 Lakhs. Kohli was then chosen as a part of India’s squad in the ODI tournament of Sri Lanka. He made his international debut at the age of 19. It was when Kohli was selected for the four-team emerging players tournament in Australia; his career got accelerated.

Emerging as the highest scorer in that tournament, Kohli got another chance to play. In ICC Champions Trophy 2009, Kohli became the ‘match of the match.’ He then went on with his jaw-dropping performance in the field and became the fastest batsman to score 5000 runs in ODI cricket. It was the year 2012 when Kohli became the vice-captain of the ODI India team. He went on to become the test captain in 2014. Kohli was awarded ICC ODI player of the year in 2013 and was honored with Arjuna Award in 2013. Under his captaincy, team India was ranked No.1 in Test cricket which in itself is applaudable. In the year 2017, Virat Kohli was honored with the fourth highest civilian honor of India, Padma Shri.

Batting Career Summary

Bowling Career Summary

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Born in Mumbai in 1973, Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly one of the best cricketers in the world of all time. Famously spoken for his outstanding batting skills and his penchant for record-breaking one-day scoring, Sachin Tendulkar’s success in Cricket is still unmatched. Tendulkar scored his first century in an ODI match at the tender age of 21 years, against Australia. He stepped up the ladder of success when he smashed record-breaking three centuries against Australia during a single tournament. Tendulkar continued to play for India up until 2012 and finally took retirement from International Cricket in November 2013. However, he continued to play other tournaments like the Indian Premier League post his retirement from international Cricket.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, famously known as Sachin Tendulkar, has made several batting records since his debut in international Cricket in 1989. In his entire cricketing career, Tendulkar has won “Man of the Series” and “Man of the Match” 11 and 4 times, respectively. With a maximum score of 248 in Test Cricket, Tendulkar has scored more than 18000 runs in ODIs, including 93 half-centuries and 47 centuries. He was the first batsman to have achieved this record.

In the year 2014, this cricket legend was conferred with India’s highest civilian honor; Bharat Ratna.

Batting Career Summary

Bowling Career Summary

While both the cricket legends come from different generations, there is one thing common between the two. Both Tendulkar and Kohli have made their marks in the cricket world and several records that are hard to be broken in the coming years.