Irfan Pathan choose a tougher batsman to bowl at between Sachin and Virat

Ever since Virat Kohli has been on a record breaking spree in One-Day International cricket, his achievements and that of the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar have been constantly equated and compared. Kohli very recently scored his 30th ODI hundred which places him second only to Tendulkar in the list of most centuries in the format. When Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan was asked who he’d find tougher to bowl between the two greats he had a logical answer.

In a recent interactive session where Irfan featured with Shaun Tait, the veteran seamers were throttled with a difficult question when they were asked who would they like to bowl if Virat and Sachin were on the crease. He was a guest at the session, which was organized by ESPNcricinfo.

Pathan favoured bowling to the Master Blaster as he feels Virat has the capability to convert his strength into his weakness. The left-arm seamer often likes delivering an inswinger with heavy seam movement which takes a toll on the batsman. But the 32-year-old believes Kohli has this inherent quality where he can improvise and instead of knicking the ball to the keeper, he can complete a neat drive on the on-side.

He feels his most lethal weapon the ball that moved into the right-hander would’ve been a lot tougher to deal with for Sachin whereas Kohli who at the start of his career was predominantly a leg-side player can tackle it way better and thus he would prefer bowling at the retired legend than the one in making.

Tait picks Tendulkar

Shaun Tait, the Australian turned Indian citizen after his marriage to Indian model, Mashoom Singh also picked Sachin Tendulkar as his opponent on the pitch. Popularly known as “The Wild Thing”, the former Aussie pacer has a good track record against India. Also, the pacer believes that during his prime, he had more chances of dismissing Sachin as Virat has a stronger defensive game. Tait, one of the fastest bowlers to have ever played the sport has dismissed the Master Blaster a couple of times, the most memorable being his scalp in the World Cup qualifiers in 2007.

Tait, one of the fastest bowlers to have ever played the sport dismissed Sachin a couple of times, the most memorable being his scalp in the World Cup 2011.

The 34-year-old made his debut for Australia in 2005, but the speedster was often struck down by injuries. He was inconsistent and failed to cement his place in the Australian team. In 2008, Tait took a voluntary retirement from the game for an indefinite period of time. Later, he made a comeback before announcing his retirement from first-class cricket to prolong his T20 career.

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