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The best I’ve seen while chasing: AB de Villiers chooses between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Byhindustantimes.com
May 13, 2020 08:18 AM IST

De Villiers was asked to choose between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in an Instagram live session by former Zimbabwe cricketer-turned-commentator Pommie Mbangwa.

Stating that Sachin Tendulkar set the standards for both him and Virat Kohli, former South Africa captain AB de Villiers said that the current India captain is the best he has ever seen in a chase. De Villiers was asked to choose between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in an Instagram live session by former Zimbabwe cricketer-turned-commentator Pommie Mbangwa. “Sachin is a role model for both of us - the way he stood out in his era, the things he achieved and with the grace he did all that is a great example for everyone,” said de Villiers.

File image of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.(AP)
File image of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.(AP)

“And I think Virat will also say that he (Sachin) set the standards for us to follow. But personally, in a chase, I’d say Virat is the best I’ve seen in my life. Sachin was amazing in all formats and all situations, but Virat comes out on top while chasing,” he further said.

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The Indian captain, who averages close to 60 overall in ODIs, has an even better record while chasing totals. Kohli ‘s shoots up to 68.33 while batting second. In fact, Kohli has more than 60% of his total runs while chasing. In 142 matches that he has batted second, Kohli has scored 7039 runs with 26 centuries - which is more than any other batsman in the history of the game.

Just to put that in context, Sachin Tendulkar has 17 hundreds while chasing out of his 49 in ODIs. He scored 8270 runs in the 242 matches that he has batted second with an average of 42.33 which is lower than his career ODI average (44.83).

Out of Kohi’s 26 hundreds while chasing in ODIs, India have won on 22 occasions. His average in successful chases is 96.21.

When asked who is a better batsman between Kohli and Australia’s Steve Smith, de Villiers compared the two to a pair of tennis legends.

“It’s a difficult one, but Virat is definitely the more natural ball-striker, there’s no doubt about that,” de Villiers said.

“In tennis terms, I’d say he’s more like a (Roger)Federer whereas Smith is like a (Rafael) Nadal. Smith is mentally very strong and figures out a way of scoring runs - he doesn’t look natural, but he ends up writing records and doing amazing things at the crease. I think mentally, Smith is one of the best I have ever seen. Virat has also scored runs all over the world and won games under pressure,” he added.

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de Villiers, who shares the dressing room with Kohli for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), further said that the current India captain is “much deeper than just a cricket player”.

“He’s much deeper than just a cricket player (...) I think most people realise after a while that there’s more to life than just cricket,” the former Proteas captain said.

“I think we all fall into that bubble initially. But Virat’s always been a thinker, he experiments (with) a lot of things, he loves trying new things out - gym wise, what he puts in his mouth. He thinks a lot about life after life - what’s to come, the different religions, we talk about everything,” he added.

In normal circumstances, both the batting stalwarts would have been currently playing in the 13th edition of IPL had there been no outbreak of novel coronavirus.

(With agency inputs)

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