AB de Villiers' how we Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar is still viral. Many former players have had their say on this issue, while the fans are also giving their opinion. Wasim Jaffer has played with both Kohli and Sachin. The 48-year-old shared the dressing room with Sachin in international matches and domestic cricket. He also was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru side in IPL 2008, which saw a young Virat make his presence felt after leading the side to an Under-19 World Cup win.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the ex-India opener said, “Both are very different players. The era in which Sachin played, and the mountain of expectations he used to carry in this, was unbelievable. Carrying the hopes of an entire nation and then living up to it was unreal, and when he was about to bat, the whole country went into a standstill mode and was praying for his success.”

“At the same time, I don’t think Virat has to carry such pressure and expectations. If you see, he had some equally efficient batters and massive names playing with him in Test cricket.” Rohit SharmaAjinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, and KL Rahul played with Virat.

“Sachin was the only Indian batter who was capable of scoring consistently in overseas conditions when he started playing for the country. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid also came in, and there was also Azharuddin, but apart from that there wasn’t much to speak about, and our record in away matches was poor,” he added.

ABD clarifies his comment

Meanwhile, AB de Villiers has issued a clarification. “There was confusion regarding my comment on Virat and Sachin. Remember, it is my opinion, and I am not dropping anyone, just telling you the way I see it. Sachin was the first one to take the Indian team forward, showing the younger players how to perform consistently around the world. I wanted to say that Virat showed that there is a different dynamic to Indian batting by being good on the short ball, and he found a way to counter that.”