Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar? Indian diplomat reveals Imran Khan's choice

Ajay Bisaria, the ex-Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, has revealed Imran Khan’s choice between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.

Kohli has been constantly compared with Tendulkar who is widely regarded as India’s greatest-ever batter and one of the best batsmen to play the game. Tendulkar retired from the game as one of the most decorated batsmen of all time. He held almost all the major batting records when he brought down the curtains on his illustrious career in 2013.

Tendulkar still hosts the record for most runs and centuries in international cricket. On the other hand, Kohli is second in the list of most centuries in international cricket. Last year, he also broke Tendulkar’s record for most centuries in ODI cricket and became the first-ever player to score 50 centuries in the 50-over format. While Tendulkar has 100 centuries in international cricket, Kohli has hit 80 so far.

Imran Khan on Sachin Tendulkar vs Virat Kohli debate:

Over the years, several former cricketers have revealed their pick between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. As far as Imran Khan is concerned, he rates Kohli higher than Tendulkar, according to Bisaria. He revealed that Imran Khan called Kohli better than Tendulkar because of his ability to turn losing games into winning ones.

“During one of the Iftar parties he had hosted, Imran Khan told me that he thought Virat Kohli was clearly the best cricketer in the world and he would rate him much higher than Tendulkar,” Bisaria was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

“Because, he said, Kohli turned losing matches into winning ones, and that is not what often happened in the case of Tendulkar. Even Dhoni has a huge following in Pakistan,” added Bisaria who served in Pakistan from 2017 to 2019.

Meanwhile, Kohli is set to return to action next month when the IPL 2024 gets underway. The former India captain has not played a game since the T20I series against Afghanistan last month. He was named in the squad for the first two Tests of the ongoing series against England but pulled out of both games to be with his pregnant wife. They were blessed with their second child earlier this month.