On Wednesday, former Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Yousuf claimed that Indian skipper Virat Kohli is not in the same league of legends such as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, reported PTI.
He blamed the quality of cricket in today’s day and age to be reason for his assessment. “The quality of cricket nowadays does not match the quality we had in the past. Virat Kohli is a very good batsman and I like to watch him play but I don’t think he is in the same league of Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman,” said Yousuf in a television interview.
The 42-year-old played in 90 Tests and 288 one-day Internationals for Pakistan and scored 39 centuries with a combined total of 17,250 runs.
Yousuf played at a time when Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman dominated world cricket.
“Some might not agree but I don’t think today we have the same quality bowlers or batsmen that we had when I played. Look at Australia’s present bowling line-up they have no one to match Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne, India had Anil Kumble, Srinath and some very good bowlers. South Africa and West Indies also had strong bowling attacks while Sri Lanka relied heavily on Muralitharan,” said Yousuf.
He also said that the change of rules in the sport has made life easier for the batsmen. “The rules have also been changed to make life easier for the batters while the pitches nowadays have also become more batting friendly. In the era I played you encountered different pitches in Australia, England, West Indies, South Africa. Nowadays more or less they are same everywhere,” he said.
Hence, Yousuf considered Tendulkar or Dravid in a different league from the current Indian batsmen.
“Yes they are getting runs but against weaker opposition and on similar pitches. I think Tendulkar and Dravid are greats because they scored runs against quality bowlers and teams,” he said.
“To get runs against the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar or Saqlain Mushtaq was no joke. I always thought Tendulkar and Dravid were perfectionists and spent so much time on improving their game. I learnt from them. I am not saying Virat is not a class act. He is, but times have changed now,” he added.
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