Cricket News: Ponting refuses to draw comparisons between Kohli and Sachin

Even before he debuted in international cricket, Virat Kohli was being compared to Sachin Tendulkar and was expected to smash all of the famous cricketer's records at one point.

Although the former India captain has previously remarked that he dislikes these parallels because Sachin is the reason he began playing cricket, the buzz has not subsided. Even now, with each century, Virat is reminded that he is getting closer to Sachin's record of 100 centuries, which was previously thought to be impossible to break.

Nonetheless, veteran cricketer Ricky Ponting isn't a fan of comparing Virat to Sachin, at least for the time being.

The 48-year-old, on the other hand, emphasised that cricket has become considerably easier with modifications in so many rules, such as fewer fielders outside the circle and the fact that balls don't reverse swing as often in white-ball cricket these days.

"Trying to compare the times and I know Virat played a little bit in the back end of that Sachin played, but it is a bit of a different game now. There are different rules, for instance, around 50-over cricket, with less fielders outside the circle. Two new balls. I think it makes it a lot easier now for batting than probably ever before. There's no doubt that the bats have got better,"

the Australian legend said.

"Field restrictions and new balls are a big part of it as well. When Sachin was playing ODIs, the ball at the end of a 50-over game was very hard to see. It was very soft. It was very hard to hit, it (would) reverse swing. You don't see that at all in the modern 50-over game,"

Ponting mentioned on the latest episode of the ICC Review.

The two-time World Cup winner also stated that comparing Virat to Sachin can only be done once the latter declares his retirement from the game. Until then, he has a lot more cricket to play and a lot of records to break.

"I always like to judge the quality of players on their longevity in the game. I think that's the best way to judge players because maintaining such a higher level of excellence for so long is the hardest thing to do. Some players can come in and do it for three or four years and look like the best players in the world, but the very, very best sustain it for long periods of time and Sachin sustained it for more than 20 years at the international level. To play 200 Test matches (like Tendulkar) within itself is an unbelievable feat."

Furthermore, Ricky Ponting felt that comparing Kohli at this point would be unfair because Tendulkar already had 100 centuries during his illustrious career while the modern great is still playing and it will take time to reach that special milestone that the Master Blaster has already attained.

As a result, any comparison will only be fair once Virat bows out of international cricket.

"Virat's got all that ahead of him just yet. He's an unbelievably good player, there's no doubt about that. He's got over 70-odd international hundreds now. Sachin made a 100, didn't he? Let's wait until Virat's career's over and then I think it'll a much fairer comparison,"

he added.

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