'There's no doubt': Ricky Ponting gives his take on Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar debate

Ricky Ponting, the former captain of Australia, recently shared his opinion on the position of Sachin Tendulkar among the greatest players of all time and also compared him to current superstar Virat Kohli. Tendulkar's achievements in cricket are highly regarded and he is considered to be one of the best batsmen in history, with records for the highest run-scorer in both ODI and Test cricket. 

In an interview on The ICC Review, just before Tendulkar's 50th birthday, Ponting gave his honest evaluation of the Indian legend, highlighting his place in the pantheon of greats.

"I've said forever Sachin's technically the best batter that I've ever seen and played with or against. Whatever plan that we came up with as a bowling group, he found a way to combat it, whether it was in India or Australia. It's hard to rank and judge players as everyone is different and everyone plays the game differently. But certainly, through the generation that I played, he was technically the best player that I saw," Ponting noted. 

Ricky Ponting opens up on Sachin vs Virat comparison

Ricky Ponting was asked to choose between Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, but he was hesitant to give a definite answer. He pointed out that comparing players from different eras is a difficult task, and he also acknowledged that changes in cricket rules have made it more convenient for contemporary batsmen to score runs more easily. Ponting suggested that it might be more feasible to compare the two prolific batsmen once Kohli retires from the sport.

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"Trying to compare the times and I know Virat played a little bit in the back end of that Sachin played, but it is a bit of a different game now. There's different rules, for instance, around 50-over cricket, with fewer fielders outside the circle. Two new balls. I think it makes it a lot easier now for batting than probably ever before. There's no doubt that the bats have got better. Field restrictions and new balls are a big part of it as well. When Sachin was playing ODIs, the ball at the end of a 50-over game was very hard to see. It was very soft. It was very hard to hit, it reverse swung. You don't see that at all in the modern 50-over game," Ponting said.

"I always like to judge the quality of players on their longevity in the game. I think that's the best way to judge players because maintaining such a higher level of excellence for so long is the hardest thing to do. Some players can come in and do it for three or four years and look like the best players in the world, but the very, very best sustain it for long periods of time and Sachin sustained it for more than 20 years at the international level," he added.

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"To play 200 Test matches (like Tendulkar) within itself is an unbelievable feat. Regardless of how many runs you make, how many hundreds you make, to be physically good enough and have a skillset set good enough to stand up and play 200 Test matches is amazing. Virat's got all that ahead of him just yet. He's an unbelievably good player, there's no doubt about that. He's got over 70-odd international hundreds now. Sachin made a 100, didn't he? Let's wait until Virat's career's over and then I think it'll be a much fairer comparison," Ponting concluded.

Image: PTI