Ian Chappell rates Kohli-Rohit duo more than Tendulkar-Ganguly

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are arguably the two best white-ball batsmen in the world at the moment and Ian Chappell believes that the impact that they have had as a duo is greater than that of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Even though the quality of bowling attacks around the world have fallen considerably in the modern game, Kohli and Rohit have shown amazing consistency and their ability to demoralize the opposition with their batting is something that Ian Chappell has been impressed with.

"Two of India’s best One-day batsmen experience varying fates. An argument could be mounted that Kohli and Sharma are India’s best-ever pair of One-day batsmen. The obvious challengers would be the feted combination of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly who tormented international bowlers for 15 years. They spent the bulk of that time opening together and did so against some of the best fast bowling combinations," Chappell wrote in his column for the Hindustan Times.

However, Chappell believes that Kohli-Sharma is arguably the better white-ball duo due to their excellent consistency. He also rolled back the years to mention the 'Sharjah Sandstorm' where Tendulkar smashed the Australian bowlers to all parts of the ground.

"There were many times when Tendulkar excelled but I haven’t seen two better innings than his back-to-back centuries in the desert when he single-handedly took apart a very good Australian attack in Sharjah. This was batting excellence complemented by sheer bloody-minded determination," Chappel revealed.

Further, he talked about how the pair of Kohli-Sharma might finish with higher runs compared to Tendulkar-Ganguly if given the same number of innings. 

"On that basis, you’d have to lean towards Tendulkar and Ganguly. However, if you extrapolate their current figures to give Kohli the same number of innings as Tendulkar and Sharma the equal of Ganguly, the pair still playing finish well in front."

In the end, giving the comparisons a rest, Chappell said that the Indian fans were truly lucky to have witnessed these four players as it was as if the Tendulkar-Ganguly duo passed on the baton to the Kohli-Rohit duo to take Indian cricket to newer heights.

"Like all debates about players from different eras, it’s superfluous. Suffice to say Indian fans have been extremely fortunate to witness close up four of the best ‘short form’ batsmen of all time." he concluded.