Muhammad Yousuf weighs in on Sachin Tendulkar vs Virat Kohli debate, rates the Little Master higher

New Delhi: The newly crowned Indian ODI & T20 team captain Virat Kohli is widely touted as one of the best palyers of present generation and also draws comparisons with the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulakar, on regular intervals. Former Pakistan batsman Muhammad Yousuf is the latest to enter this debate.

Expressing his opinion on the matter, Yousuf rates legendary Sachin Tendulkar as a better performer than Virat Kohli despite the current India captain's recent astounding form.

"I don't want to take anything away from Kohli. He is an exceptional talent. But I rate Tendulkar much higher because of the era he played in, against the best teams, fast bowlers and spinners," Yousuf told PTI in an interview.

"Nowadays, the quality of players is not the same as it was say in the 90s and until 2011. After 2011 World Cup the quality has come down. Tendulkar was a world class player and this can be judged by the number of runs and hundreds he scored against strong opposition in all conditions and in all formats," Yousuf said.

"I played a lot against Tendulkar and he was a masterclass and produced match winning knocks many a times. I don't think Kohli is facing the same quality bowlers or opposition."

Kohli, also recently, spoke of his admiration for Tendulkar and the impact the latter had in the former's career while also mentioning that it is nearly impossible to play the same number of games the Master Blaster has.

It is of no surprise that the entire cricketing world sees Kohli potentially breaking many of Tendulkar's records - if not all - in time to come.

(With PTI inputs)