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AB de Villiers was forced to refresh his comments on Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar after a severe backlash from cricket fans on social media platforms. De Villiers, the former South Africa National Team cricketer who played alongside Virat Kohli for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in multiple IPL seasons, in a previous video claimed that Sachin Tendulkar was not better than Virat Kohli.
Along with the cricket fans, former cricketers like Dodda Ganesh mocked AB de Villiers for underestimating Sachin Tendulkar. Dodda Ganesh's cheeky 'pass the weed' remark went viral among the fans who did not agree with Villiers' comment.
AB de Villiers placed Virat Kohli ahead of Sachin Tendulkar
In a previous YouTube video, the former South Africa cricketer opined that it was Sachin Tendulkar first who proved that even subcontinental batters could perform in overseas conditions where the pitches mostly helped the fast bowlers.
But Virat Kohli set the bar high, so high that even legendary Sachin Tendulkar did not have the calibre to match that. Because of the severe backlash on social media platforms, Villiers has rectified his comments, but did not completely flip his view.
AB de Villiers rectifies his comments which caused a widespread controversy
In his revised comments, the former batter explained that by putting Virat ahead of Sachin, he wanted to say that his former teammate had a better approach to counter the short ball, which took Indian cricket in a whole new dynamic.
"There was a bit of confusion with my Virat and Sachin comment. Remember, it's my opinion. I'm not axing anyone. I'm telling you the way that I see it. Sachin was the first to take things forward for India, showing all the youngsters what it takes to perform consistently everywhere around the world. I said that Virat sort of showed that there is a different dynamic to Indian batting by being good on the short ball. He found a way to counter that," de Villiers said in his most recent video on his YouTube channel," de Villiers said.
AB de Villiers judged Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar not based on their stats
Villiers further mentioned that Virat Kohli's away Test stats might not be better than Sachin Tendulkar's, but the way he influenced the young cricketers and reflected his confidence across different grounds outside India pushed De Villiers to take the modern-day batting legend's side.
"We can always look at stats and say Virat's stats were not as good abroad, especially in England, where he really struggled. But I still feel he looked confident and played the all-round, well-balanced cricket that's needed to succeed abroad and inspired a lot of youngsters around him," AB de Villiers mentioned.
"He took what he learnt from Sachin and took it forward. His record is not as good as Sachin's away from home, but we don't always look at stats, especially not me. And that's what I meant by showing the new generation of cricketers how the way forward should look. Staying fit, leading by example, having the all-round game."
