Madhurima
NEW DELHI: Ex-cricketer Gautam Gambhir has picked legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar over current India skipper Virat Kohli after considering the change in rules in ODI cricket and also the longevity of Master Blaster's career.
Tendulkar played ODI cricket for over 20 years, representing India in 463 matches during which he scored over 18,000 runs with 49 hundred. Kohli, on the opposite hand, has up to now played 248 ODIs for the lads in Blue within which he has amassed on the brink of 12,000 runs, including 43 centuries.
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"Sachin Tendulkar, because probably with one white ball and 4 fielders inside the circle, not five fielders outside, it will be Sachin Tendulkar for me. It's difficult because Virat Kohli has done phenomenally well but I feel the rules have changed also, which has helped tons of recent batters," Gambhir said while speaking on Star Sports Cricket Connected show.
In the recent period, an ODI inning is played while featuring two new white-balls from each end. When it involves field restrictions, each inning is split into three powerplays.
In the first powerplay from overs 1-10, only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle. within the next 30 overs, i.e. from 11-40, four fielders are allowed and in the last 10 overs, five fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle.
"The new generation, with two new balls, no reverse swing, nothing for the finger spin, five fielders inside for the 50 overs, probably that creates batting much easier," said Gambhir.
"Look at how Sachin Tendulkar has played, different rules, that time 230 to 240 was a winning total. Probably, I'll choose Sachin Tendulkar if we see the longevity and flow of the one-day cricket format," he added.
Tendulkar, himself, has been critical of the present ODI rules which many believe are more in favour of batters.
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"Having 2 new balls in one-day cricket may be a perfect recipe for disaster as each ball isn't given the time to get old enough to reverse. we've not seen reverse swing, an integral part of the death overs, for a long period of time," the 47-year-old had said way back in 2018.
