One, a God of Cricket. Other the most promising knight. One, Krishna, other Arjun. One took his nation to the highest pride, other establishing his front on protecting that pride.

Two batsman with immense runs and centuries behind them, but played in a comparatively different cricketing era. While Tendulkar made his mark through the 1990s and the 2000s, Kohli has stepped up into light since 2010. While their fans and fellow cricketing mates have engaged themselves into ‘who is better, Tendulkar or Kohli?’ debate, going purely by batting averages, Kohli has done better than Tendulkar in the shorter format of the game, including one-day internationals (ODIs) and IPL. Tests tell a different story.It is difficult to compare men of two different eras even if their eras somewhat overlap. No statistical exercise can definitively prove that one player is better than the other. The game started becoming more of a bat dominated game. Grounds became shorter and bats became more woody. Tendulkar played in the era where, Indian ODI side was frequently more dependent on Tendulkar in 1990s. His test side though, was lot more composed and thus Tendulkar’s test record is better than Kohli. It is exactly the other way around for Kohli. Tendulkar averages higher in matches that India won in test format of the game. Kohli has done better in ODIs but his winning average is lower than his overall average in Test matches.

In all these scenarios, Tendulkar has contributed with ball as well in both the formats. Kohli has contributed through his fielding efforts. Captaincy, even though at a very early stage, has been bettered by Kohli. But then, Tendulkar mentored the teams even when not a captain.

Sachin hasn’t played that may IPL or T20 cricket as compared to Kohli. We can agree on the fact that Kohli is a better T20 player than Tendulkar based on whatever we have watched. But then, Tendulkar played the t20s at the tapering end of his career. Kohli entered the T20 era around his debut. Fair to compare?

Everyone has admitted that these two batsman are genius in their own ways. So why not keep them to that list of great players. Lets end this debate as to who is better? We can compare, but there won’t be any unbiased conclusion to this? Lets compare oranges with oranges and mangoes with mangoes. Or lions with a carnivore of this period and not with a dinosaur!

Both the players have shown the continuity and consistency. Tendulkar a bit more in his 24 years. So let us wait till Kohli plays 200 tests and 450 plus ODIs. Till then, lets take a vow, we will say,

Kohli is a Champion & Tendulkar is a champion!
Champion! Champion!
Champion! Champion!
Champion! Champion!
Everybody say Sachin Kohli is a champion!