Virat Kohli wishes he could take ‘everything’ from Sachin Tendulkar: ‘I am a mess playing those shots’

Virat Kohli can match Sachin Tendulkar shot for shot, barring one.

The raging debate over who is the better batter between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar will likely go on forever, but the truth is that comparing the two is like stacking apples against oranges. Tendulkar played in an era when handling reverse swing with a single ball was not something every batter could master. Similarly, the way Kohli has dominated chases for India, showing remarkable consistency in ODIs, reflects a level of class rarely seen before. At the same time, there are several similarities between the two. Tendulkar was often a one-man army for India in the 1990s, and Kohli too has carried that responsibility for long phases; even now, with his absence from certain formats, India sometimes wonders what might have been had he continued longer.

Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, the pioneers of two entirely different generations of Indian cricket (AFP)

Now, let’s take a look at their shot repertoire. While the straight drive became synonymous with Tendulkar, Sachin’s punch off the backfoot was always a red light for the opposition. Meanwhile, Kohli’s silken cover drive and the way he moves those wrists of his are in a league of their own.

However, Tendulkar is the most complete batsman India, and arguably the world has ever produced. Even Kohli himself has admitted it. Whenever one talks about the other, the onlookers tend to listen carefully. Kohli has always spoken about his admiration for Tendulkar, the giant he is often measured against. And that hasn’t changed even today. In a chat with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the 19th season of the Indian Premier League, Kohli said he wished he could take ‘everything’ from the Master Blaster as far as cricket is concerned.

Kohli wished he could take ‘everything’ from Tendulkar

“Everything,” said Kohli when asked what the one thing would be he could take from Tendulkar, before recalling how Sachin’s revolutionised batting in the early 2000s. After A back injury troubled Tendulkar in 1999, forcing him to cut down on the big shots. He still hit sixes, but not with the same power, while simultaneously working on a stroke he would later make famous. Tendulkar compensated for the reduced power-hitting by employing delicate paddle sweeps and lap shots against spinners, a method that brought him tremendous success. Cut to 2026 as Kohli’s legacy is as big as Tendulkar’s, possibly even bigger. He can match Tendulkar shot for shot, but the one stroke Kohli has often wished to play with the same panache is the lap shot.

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“One thing that I would like to have is the lap shot. He is the first one who started to lap the spinners so precisely. It was smooth; never looked rushed. I am a mess playing those shots, so yes, the smooth lap,” said Kohli.

Tendulkar isn’t the only sporting great Kohli would like to emulate attributes of. Kohli said he would love to have MS Dhoni’s ‘contentment’, Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘discipline’ and Lionel Messi’s ‘miraculous ability’.

In an interview from 2017, Kohli opened up on his comparisons with Tendulkar for the first time, saying there's no match in terms of skills. “I don't believe in comparisons. It's one thing to compare, but you compare me to a person because of whom I started watching cricket. There's no competition when it comes to skill level. He is the most complete batsman ever. How can there be a comparison? I have always said it's not fair to him. Because of what he has given us, he doesn't deserve to be compared to us. In this generation, no chance,” Kohli had said on the show ‘Breakfast With Champions’.