Virat Kohli isn’t playing as strong a bowling like Tendulkar? Well, this viewpoint is not out of place

As India or more specifically Virat Kohli continues to plunder runs in South Africa (statisticians said he walloped his last 1,000 international runs in just two and half months) and inches closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s Mount Everest of runs erected over two decades, it is being strongly debated whether we can really compare batsmen from different times if not era about their scoring rates.

It’s just a matter of time before Kohli betters Tendulkar’s batting records in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) unless some unforeseen factor hits him and for die-hard fans of the Master Blaster, it is not fair to compare him with Kohli because cricket is not the same game it used to be even a decade back. There is just no bowling now is what they feel.

This is a poetic justice of sorts for the fans of Sunil Gavaskar nonetheless. When Tendulkar was at his peak, slamming one after another of those hundred international hundreds, the original Little Master’s fans – the senior generation – were not amused. “Where is the bowling today that Sunny had played in his times?” was the general counter question.

There is no iota of doubt that the bowling that Gavaskar had faced in his days and that too without the head safety gear was far more venomous than that faced by Tendulkar. Similarly, the bowling that Kohli gets to face across the world is pedestrian at its best and this consistent slide in the bowling standards across the globe makes the quantity of runs even more. Bowlers have just evaporated from the game, thanks to the extreme innovations in favour of the batters and there is no certainty that even Kohli’s own Mount Everest would be safe in the days to come. Remember, Afghanistan and Ireland are due to play Test cricket soon.

To substantiate the viewpoint that inconsistency in bowling standards makes comparison across generations a foolish act, let’s look at some bowling records in the Test and ODI formats made over the years.

Most wickets in a calendar year (Tests)

Every year, we do hear a lot about the most prolific batsmen of these times like the Kohlis and Steve Smiths bagging one annual award or another for their superhuman batting forms. But how much do we hear about the most successful bowlers in a given calendar year? Take for example, the top bowlers with the most number of wickets in a calendar year.

In Tests, Australian Shane Warne has the record of capturing most wickets (96) in a single season but it was way back in 2005. It is staggering that among the top 33 wicket-takers in Tests in a calendar year, only three could achieve the feat in the decade of 2010s (9.09 percentage). On the other hand, 13 feats were accomplished in the 2000s, eight in the 1990s, five in the 1980s, two in the 1970s, one in the 1960s and one as late as the 1920s!

The three bowlers who finished as top wicket-takers in a calendar year in the 2010s are India’s Ravichandran Ashwin in 2016 (72), England’s Graeme Swann in 2010 (64) and Australia’s Nathan Lyon in 2017 (63). All of them are spinners which suggest the state of pace bowling in world cricket today.

The highest number of wickets a fast bowler took in Tests in a calendar year was 85 hunted by Australian great Dennis Lillee, way back in 1981. The last time a pace bowler finished as the top wicket-taker in a calendar in Tests is South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada in 2017 with 57 wickets but his rank of 58 in the all-time list is far too ordinary.

Most wickets in calendar year (ODIs)

Looking at the corresponding situation in ODIs, the best haul in a calendar year belongs to Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq (69) which was registered over two decades back in 1997.

Decade-wise, 13 of the best 35 wicket-taking feats in a calendar year were accomplished in the 1990s, 15 in the 2000s and only seven in the 2010s (20 percentage). The best calendar haul in the 2010s so far has been 62 held by Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal. Pakistan’s Junaid Khan and India’s Ravindra Jadeja shared the laurels in 2013, Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga had the honour twice in 2011 and 2012 while Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan did it in 2010 and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali in 2017. However, Ali’s 45 wickets as the tally of the best hunter in 2017 looks much less compared to the all-time toppers.

Most wickets in career (Tests)

If we see the list of the top 10 wicket-takers in Tests, most or all of them were retired by the time Kohli appeared on the scene. Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and Shaun Pollock were retired while Muttaiah Muralidharan was nearing the end of his career. Only James Anderson and Dale Steyn are among the top 10 wicket-taking bowlers in Tests who Kohli have played during his days. Tendulkar, on the other hand, has played all in the list except his compatriot Anil Kumble.

Most wickets in career (ODIs)

Turning the eyes to the most successful wicket-takers in ODIs, one sees a similar scenario. The top 10 highest wicket-takers include names who Tendulkar had faced but not Kohli. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Chaminda Vaas, Shaun Pollock and others are the ones. Muttiah Muralidharan and Brett Lee were still playing when Kohli started but they were at the fag end of the respective careers.

So with the current Indian skipper playing almost none of the top 10 bowlers in ODIs, it is not absolutely fair to compare his tons with those of Tendulkar who had faced all the names mentioned above in their prime days. A similar caution applies to the Gavaskar versus Tendulkar debate for the latter had not played the likes that his predecessor had faced up front during his playing days.

However, having said this, we can still defend Tendulkar vis-à-vis Gavaskar and Kohli vis-à-vis Tendulkar. When we say Tendulkar played a weaker bowling attack compared to Gavaskar and Kohli compared to that to Tendulkar, the counter question can be: There are many others who are playing/have played the same bowling attacks during their times but they couldn’t replicate either Tendulkar or Kohli in their performances. This in itself is an evidence strong enough to suggest that the greatness of either Tendulkar or Kohli cannot be belittled by statistics only.