Ian Chappell terms Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly batting pair as best ever

Indian Skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma has cumulated mind-blowing figures while batting as a pair but when it comes to playing quality pacers, the extolled opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly had a far challenging role to play.

"An argument could be mounted that Kohli and Sharma are India's best ever one-day batsmen. The obvious challengers would be the feted combination of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, who tormented international bowlers for 15 years," Ian Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo.

The former Australian then elucidated how during Tendulkar-Ganguly era, each international team had two quality pacers.

"They (Tendulkar-Ganguly) spent bulk of that time opening together against some of the best fast-bowling combinations. Facing Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis from Pakistan; Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh of West Indies; Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee of Australia; Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock for South Africa; Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka was a serious test of a batsman's skill."

Quoting a comment of Pakistani’s Imran Khan that "you judge a man by his opponents", Chappell stated, "On the basis of the quality of the opposition, you'd have to lean towards Tendulkar and Ganguly.

"However, if you extrapolate their current figures to give Kohli the same number of innings as Tendulkar, and Sharma the equal of Ganguly, the current pair finish well in front," he added.

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Chappell also admitted that the one indubitable argument was that Kohli and Rohit are the best ever white ball combination.

"Their combined ODI and T20I records are excellent, with Kohli -- averaging over 50 in both formats -- at the unbelievable level. To be fair, Tendulkar played very little T20I cricket and Ganguly's career was finished by the time the format blossomed," he wrote.

He further said that even though Tendulkar led the way in bein the first batsman to score an ODI double hundred, Rohit has mastered the art by knocking three.

"Indian fans have been extremely fortunate to witness, close up, four of the best short-form batsmen of all time," Chappell wrote.

"With Tendulkar it was his all-round mastery of the art but he never ceased to amaze with his back-foot forcing shots on bouncy pitches for a man short in stature. When he was going there was no better off-side player than Ganguly; his drives, so effortlessly played, would pierce even the most crowded cover field."

Furthermore, on Kohli and Rohit, he stated, "It's not so much the huge scores that stamp Kohli's class but the regularity of his success. He punishes bowlers all round the wicket by keeping the ball on the ground the bulk of the time. Thanks to him eliminating a lot of the risk in batting, his scores are consistently high but still amassed at a good rate.

"Sharma, on the other hand, tends to play risk-free cricket early on, but once he gets motoring, it's a case of 'watch out in the stands'. While he does not exude muscle power like Chris Gayle, Sharma hits nearly as many sixes per innings and has a higher strike rate."

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