The king and his heir

by southindian Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:21 am

With Sachin Tendulkar on the verge of retirement, Australian bowlers, past and present, must be sighing with relief that the torment is nearly over.

Those expressions of relief are a bit premature. Virat Kohli's two recent centuries, plundered in winning Indian causes, were eerily similar and a stark reminder of Tendulkar's feat against Australia in Sharjah in 1997-98. Considering the circumstances - Tendulkar's first hundred in Sharjah was scored in a game India had to perform exceptionally well in to advance to the final, while the second came in the final to pull off an extraordinary win - they were the two best ODI innings I saw Tendulkar play.

He tore into an Australian attack that included Shane Warne, and in both innings Tendulkar scored at better than a run a ball in an era when that wasn't an everyday occurrence. In the first of those two brilliant knocks, India had a certain figure to reach in order to ensure an appearance in the final even if they eventually lost the match to Australia. Not satisfied with just guiding his side into the final, Tendulkar's competitive instincts had been aroused and he was in hot pursuit of victory when he was dismissed.

The king and his heir

by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:50 am

this is laughably premature. he has played 18 tests and scored 4 hundreds, only one of which is in an away test against a depleted aussie team. let's see him score against the english and the south africans under english and south african conditions and then we can talk about succession to tendulkar etc. in general bowling attacks around the world are a much depleted force (thanks to the gully cricket format) and kohli will never face the likes of wasim akram, waqar younis, allen donald, walsh, ambrose or mcgrath in full flow. heck he hasn't even been tested that much against dale steyn. a man can't choose his opposition, but i don't think kohli has done all that much against the best the world has to offer even right now. it will take a lot more than that to please me. big whoop. the real successor to tendulkar right now is the english captain.

The king and his heir

The king and his heir

Re: The king and his heir