Following the completion of the first Test against Sri Lanka, former South African cricketer AB de Villiers made some bold remarks about legendary Indian batters Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. The former Proteas batter heaped praise on both the batters and also credited them for showing Indian batters how to succeed in SENA countries. However, de Villiers, fondly called Mr. 360 went on to comment that Kohli did more than Tendulkar to establish himself as a dominant batter in overseas countries. 

Not only this, but according to him, Tendulkar cracked the code of succeeding in seaming and bouncy conditions first, it was Kohli who played a bigger role in India’s rise in the longest format. Needless to say, his comments didn’t sit well with Indian cricket fans and experts, and the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru player had to face backlash for the same. One of them is former India fast bowler Dodda Ganesh, who took a cheeky dig at ABD for his remarks. Ganesh didn’t clearly agree with ABD’s assessment and responded to the comments with a one-liner. He wrote, “Pass on the weed, brother.” 

Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar: Who is Actually a Better Test Player? 

Tendulkar and Kohli have been two stalwarts of Indian cricket and played crucial roles in the rise of the game in the subcontinent. But who’s the better one between them, let’s find out. Sachin Tendulkar played 106 overseas Tests for the side and scored 8,705 runs at an average of 54.7, including 29 centuries. On the other hand, Kohli has played 68 overseas Tests with 4,894 runs at an average of 41.51. 

This shows that Tendulkar has a better Test record than Kohli, though it should also be considered that the former had a considerably longer career. In the final four years of his career, the former India great scored 2,951 runs, hit eight centuries, 14 fifties in 29 games. On the other hand, Kohli scored 1,912 runs in 36 games between 2020 and 2025. However, Kohli has recorded some notable achievements which Tendulkar didn’t. This includes four centuries in the 2014-15 BGT, leading India to their first Test series win in Australia. He also produced two remarkable Test seasons scoring 1, 215 runs in 2016 and 1,322 runs in 2018.