'Never faced quality bowling’: Shoaib Akhtar demeans Virat Kohli, declares Sachin Tendulkar the greatest

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar came up with a perfect response when he was asked about the greatest player between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Akhtar also reasoned his statement later with a perfect explanation.

This debate has been there for a long time about the greatest player between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Both have been amazing across their respective careers and have won plenty of matches for India.

Both the batters have scored runs heavily and have been India's premier batters during their times. Despite enormous pressure on their shoulders, Kohli and Tendulkar have been able to demonstrate the best of their batting abilities most of the time.

Also read: Virat Kohli equals Sachin Tendulkar's legendary record; now targets Sunil Gavaskar's feat at Gabba

Shoaib Akhtar replies on Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar debate

During a TNKS podcast, Shoaib Akhtar was asked to reply on the topic of the greatest player between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Akhtar made a bold claim that there is no chance of Kohli being greater than Sachin. He reasoned it by saying that Kohli has never played the kind of bowlers that Tendulkar played during his era.

"I won't say Virat (Kohli) is a bigger player than Sachin (Tendulkar). Virat can never be a greater player than Sachin. How can he be? Virat has never played that quality of bowling. It is not Virat's fault that he never played quality bowling," Akhtar said on the podcast.

The rules have changed quite a bit from the era of Sachin Tendulkar as it has become easier for the batters to score runs. As a result, we can see an increase in the average scores in today's period.

With the increase of T20 cricket, the sport has been commercialized nowadays. The art of reverse swing also seems to have diminished since the use of two new balls in ODI cricket.

"Virat is a player of the T20 era" - Shoaib Akhtar

The former Pakistan fast bowler later claimed that Virat Kohli is a batter of the T20 era while Sachin Tendulkar played against the greatest bowlers to have ever played the game. He also claimed that there was reverse swing during that time which made it even more difficult for the batters.

"Virat is a player of the T20 era, but the era where Sachin played, the talents against whom he played hats off. Sachin was a very big name. Even Ricky Ponting was a destructive batter of his era. What do you think? Playing fast bowlers of that era was a joke? There was reverse swing also at that time," Akhtar explained.

Shoaib Akhtar further called Virat Kohli a "brand" and also lauded the no. of hundreds scored by him in international cricket. He called Kohli a perfect brand ambassador for the promotion of cricket.

Akhtar himself had incredible numbers in international cricket and is still regarded as the fastest bowler of all time. Unfortunately, he didn't get to bowl to Virat Kohli as the latter was just making his way into the team when Akhtar was at the end of his career.

Virat Kohli's insane numbers in international cricket

Virat Kohli has scored 540 international matches and scored 27257 runs at an average of 52.72. He is fourth on the list of the highest run-scorers in international cricket across the three formats.

Currently, he is not in great batting form as he is playing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He scored his recent hundred in the first Test of the series in Perth but failed in both the innings of the second Test in Adelaide.