'You cannot place Virat Kohli in the same category as Sachin Tendulkar' - Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq, the former Pakistan all-rounder, who is known for his outspoken nature, usually comes out with controversial statements over Indian cricketers. Now, the latest one from his side came on Virat Kohli, the current Indian skipper, who is more often compared with the greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Vivian Richards.

The former all-rounder made his international cricket debut in 1996 for Pakistan. He played against several legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and many more. Razzaq had earned a reputation of a reliable all-rounder by winning many crucial games for Pakistan. He scored more than 7,000 runs and grabbed 389 wickets across all the formats.

Abdul Razzaq compares Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar

In a recent interview given to Pakistan Cricket, Abdul Razzaq said that there were several great players, who played between 1992 to 2007 and that period will tell you about cricket. At that time, the competition was very high and the individuals used to play for their national team. According to him, now there are no players like that, who could be referred to as the world-class players. Now there is no depth in batting bowling or fielding, the players are concentrating more on basics.

“If you speak to players from 1992 to 2007, they will tell you what cricket was. There were world-class players at that time. Now there are no longer world-class players. There is no depth in bowling, batting or fielding. It is all basic now,” Razzaq said in a video interview to Cricket Pakistan as quoted by Hindustan Times.

He also stated that Virat Kohli is a good player from India. Moreover, the Indian skipper is also performing consistently well. But, you cannot place him in the category of Sachin Tendulkar. He felt that Master Blaster belongs to a different category.

“If Virat Kohli scores, he scores. Yeah, he is a good player for them and is performing consistently, but you cannot place him in the same category as Sachin Tendulkar. He belongs to a different category,” the former Pakistan all-rounder added.

Virat Kohli has emerged as the run-machine for Team India in the last five to six years. At the age of 31, he has already shattered some big international batting records until now. Kohli has amassed 7202 runs in Tests, 11,520 in ODIs and 2450 in T20Is with 70 tons and 98 half-centuries.