Former English spinner Monty Panesar has hailed the legendary batsman from India – Sachin Tendulkar as the better batsman than Virat Kohli. In a recent interview with India.com Monty Panesar picked Sachin Tendulkar as the better batsman over the current Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
When Panesar was asked about his take on the long-standing debate ‘Virat Kohli vs Sachin Tendulkar’ – the former left-arm spinner chose Sachin Tendulkar as the better batsman than Virat Kohli. Panesar said that Tendulkar has carried the Indian batting on his shoulders at a time when India needed a sporting icon badly.
I look at an all-round player like the on and off-field, I think India needed a hero in the ’90s and 2000s. There weren’t many sporting heroes, there weren’t many heroes in the country, to be honest. There wasn’t anyone that the whole of India could look up to and Sachin Paaji was probably the only guy. I don’t think there would be any other sportsman like Sachin, where people would worship him because the whole country needed someone to look up to. We all look up to Sachin Tendulkar.
We all look up to Sachin Tendulkar. He’s our motivation, he’s our inspiration and many cricketers around the world would always say, “Because of Sachin Tendulkar I took up cricket” from the ’90s and 200’s. I think that’s where Kohli doesn’t even match that.
Panesar added further. However, Monty Panesar also praised Kohli for his supreme fitness level and hard work he does on and off the field.
The left-arm spinner revealed that he would like to play for Kings XI Punjab due to his Punjabi roots and natural inclination. He also revealed that he follows Mumbai Indians due to Sachin Tendulkar. Panesar also added that he closely watches CSK due to MS Dhoni and he also followed Delhi Capitals last season due to Sourav Ganguly.
In case you didn’t know –
Monty Panesar came into the limelight during the England tour of India where he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar to claim his maiden test wicket. Panesar has represented England in 50 Tests, 26 ODIs, and 1 T20I.