“Nobody Above Sachin Tendulkar”- Ravichandran Ashwin’s Huge Dig At Virat Kohli

Published - 18 May 2025, 05:15 PM | Updated - 18 May 2025, 05:29 PM

Sachin Tendulkar, Virat kohli, Ravi Ashwin

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Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin termed Sachin Tendulkar as the biggest cricketer India has produced, taking a huge dig at Virat Kohli. This comes after Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 12.

Virat passionately and stylishly checked all the boxes in terms of batting, captaincy, attitude, and impact. Fans are still getting over Kohli's unexpected retirement from Test cricket, but Ashwin's audacious strategy against the most popular Indian Test match ever attracted attention on social media.

Kohli led India with tenacity and added a new level of aggression and fitness to the red-ball game with 9,230 runs in 113 games, including 30 hundreds and 29 fifties.

Ravichandran Ashwin picks Sachin Tendulkar over Virat Kohli as the greatest Test cricketer

India dominated both at home and away under Kohli's leadership. They won their first Test series in Australia in 2018–19, topped the ICC Test rankings, and held that position for a few years. In addition, he is the Indian captain with the most Test victories (40).

Since he has been a fan since he was a young boy, Ashwin stated that he dislikes comparing players from different periods, but Sachin Tendulkar will always be his favorite. The former Indian all-rounder did clarify, though, that Kohli's brilliance is not diminished.

“I never compare across generations. For me, Sachin Tendulkar will always be number one. Because I was his fan since childhood. So, I would never put anyone ahead of Sachin Tendulkar. It doesn't mean that Virat Kohli is less,” Ravi Ashwin said.

Ashwin talks about Virat Kohli’s high fitness level

Ashwin recalled an instance that demonstrated Kohli's unparalleled impact and intensity on the field. Ravi remarked that he wanted to devour whatever feeds his old teammate's fire after being astounded by Kohli's passion during a match when he pursued a gently rolling ball from short mid-wicket with amazing speed, slid, and threw it back in one motion.

“I will give an instance of Virat Kohli. I am not sure if it was Jonny Bairstow or Joe Root. He hit a flick. Virat was in the short midwicket. And the ball was rolling slowly. There was a maximum of one run. If he had hit a deep mid-wicket fielder, it could have been two runs.

He ran after the ball like a madman. But when I saw him, I was like, why is he running so fast? He ran and hit a slide, he turned and threw. He threw from under and even fell. He hit the stump, and the tits are unnoticed. I used to think, what does he eat? What do you eat? Give me whatever you eat,” Ashwin said.