‘Don't compare Virat Kohli to Sachin Tendulkar yet’ – Former Australian great 

Virat Kohli is at a point in his career where he has achieved almost everything as a batsman. He has done brilliantly in home conditions and performed well in Australia and England too. Kohli's near-perfect career so far has led to comparison with arguably India's all-time greatest batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

Kohli is inching closer towards Tendulkar's numerous batting records and has ignited debates whether he is better than the little master. However, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels it's unfair to compare Kohli and Tendulkar at this stage of Kohli's career.

Ponting said, "The comparison is not correct at this stage of the career and that too from a player who has played 200 Tests. You remember Sachin from the time that he was in the last phase of the career, not at the time when he was starting or in the middle period. Everyone has compared Virat to them but they have to see whether they can keep domination on international cricket for 10, 12, 15 years."

"Sachin did this and he is also the sign of the three champions of the game and this is the real champion. Playing two hundred Tests is not a minor issue. I also played 168 but the matter of two hundred is different. Let’s see how Virat’s career graph goes. Only after the end of his career should he be compared to Sachin, otherwise it would be excessive with both of them. ” he added.

Tendulkar scored 51 centuries in 200 Tests while Kohli has already scored 23 centuries in just 71 Tests. With age on his side, Kohli would be fancying his chance of breaking Sachin's record of highest number of Test centuries.

Ponting also spoke about Kohli's captaincy. He said, “I did not see all the matches in the Test series. The game has been seen for a few hours, but for me, there is an important aspect beyond the field in the captaincy. In the field, such changes in bowling, the field crowd is all about 30 to 40 per cent and the rest is preparing three or four days ahead of the match. It matters a lot. "

A lot has been written and said about the comparison between Kohli and Tendulkar. While there are no doubts that Kohli has the pedigree to break Sachin's records, one should always remember that Sachin performed consistently for more than 20 years. Moreover, in the beginning of his career, he played in an Indian side that wasn't as strong as it is now. Kohli and Tendulkar are legends in their own ways and comparisons between the two should be stopped.