Unfair to compare Kohli with Tendulkar, says Sehwag

Mumbai: “Goli se dar nahin lagta, Kohli se dar lagta hai (I am not scared of bullets, I am scared of Kohli),” former India cricketer Virender Sehwag, who was in his elements addressing the media at promotional here, feels it’s unfair to compare Kohli with Sachin Tendulkar.

With already two tons under his belt this IPL and achieving a populist epithet ‘run machine’, Kohli’s superlative performance with the bat has led experts comparing him with Tendulkar. While some may find the comparison to be odious, others have welcomed the debate.

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“Nobody should compare two cricketers. People compare me with Tendulkar and Viv Richards, that’s not fair. Those cricketers belong to different eras,” Sehwag, who feels Kohli is one of the most dangerous batsmen in T20, said at an event organised by 92.7 Big FM, on Wednesday.

Currently the mentor of Kings XI Punjab, the ‘Sultan of Multan’ was disappointed with KXIP’s performance in the IPL. Punjab are languishing at the bottom of the points table, having lost seven out of 10 matches.

“Last season, we were at the bottom of the table and this time too it’s no different. I really wished we had won close matches this time, but it is a process that we are going through and hopefully in the next season we can form a better team,” Sehwag added.

While the former Delhi Daredevils skipper was impressed with youngsters in his playing XI, he pointed out that the foreigners were a let down this season.

“The youngsters in our team such as Manan Vohra, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel are all very talented and I have spent a lot of time trying to motivate them. I gave examples of my own experiences. But these players are not consistent with their performances.

“I hope we put up a good show in the upcoming matches. If the overseas players —David Miller, Glenn Maxwell and Hashim Amla can fire then they can win any match for us,” he said.

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Punjab had a horrifying start to their IPL campaign this year. Miller was the first casualty the team suffered after the South African was axed from his post as skipper. Sehwag, while praising newly-elected skipper Murali Vijay, also mentioned the captaincy move was in the interest of the team.

“Miller also was not performing well as a batsman and we thought if we give the captaincy to somebody else then Miller can play as a batsman and score runs. When Vijay took over as captain we won two games.

“There is a certain quality in Vijay, he can lead the side and he is very good with his brain. He got the confidence and also scored two fifties. Vijay has played enough cricket to understand what is a captain’s role, how he can motivate the team and contribute for the team,” Sehwag quipped.

Sehwag left an example of another of his witty one-liners before signing off.

“Haathi ke size ko, boss ki wife ko and Nehraji ki advice ko saara desh naman karta hai (an elephant’s size, boss’ wife and Ashish Nehra’s advice is respected by the whole country),” added Sehwag, who recently made his commentary debut in the ICC World Twenty20.