Mohammad Yousuf : Virat Kohli is a class act, but Tendulkar and Dravid were perfectionists
Former Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has praised Virat Kohli for his quality but believes that he isn’t at par with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Yousuf has also expressed his disappointment with the dwindling quality of modern-day cricket which has almost nothing for the bowlers now.
Yousuf was one of the fulcrums of the Pakistan batting line-up when Indian batting legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and others dominated the world cricket and he is of the opinion that India’s present young skipper Virat Kohli isn’t close to that league.
Talking to Geo Super channel, the right-hand batsman said, “Virat Kohli is a very good batsman and I like to watch him play but I don’t think he is in the same league of Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman.
"To get runs against the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar or Saqlain Mushtaq was no joke. I always thought Tendulkar and Dravid were perfectionists and spent so much time on improving their game. I learnt from them. I am not saying Virat is not a class act. He is, but times have changed now,” he added.
The 42-year-old, who has scored a mammoth 17,250 runs with 39 centuries and 97 half centuries in the both the formats, also stressed on the falling quality of the game with every passing season as batting-friendly pitches have been helping the batsman massively.
“The rules have also been changed to make life easier for the batters while the pitches nowadays have also become more batting friendly. In the era, I played you encountered different pitches in Australia, England, West Indies, South Africa. Nowadays more or less they are same everywhere,” said the right-handed batsman.”
Yousuf also picked on the bowlers even stating that they aren’t as fearsome as they were back in his days.
He recalled, “I don’t think today we have the same quality bowlers or batsmen that we had when I played. Look at Australia’s present bowling lineup they have no one to match Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne, India had Anil Kumble, Srinath and some very good bowlers. South Africa and West Indies also had strong bowling attacks while Sri Lanka relied heavily on Muralitharan.”
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