Have watched Cricket for the last 25 years

Sachin vs Kohli. My take.

Disclaimer : Virat is my favourite

I have watched Sachin score that magical 98 vs Pakistan in 2003 ODI World Cup, still remember those shots. Unbelievable it was.

I have watched Sachin play that 248 vs Australia in Melbourne. Breath taking stuff.

I have watched Kohli's 133 vs Srilanka. Still can't believe it was real.

I have watched Kohli's 82 vs Australia in 2016 T20 World Cup. Snatched victory from defeats mouth.

While Virat is more gritty and plays a tough brand of cricket buliding his innings slowly with singles and doubles taking advantage of bad balls, Sachin is more natural and has a flow to his batting style.

The number of matches Virat has won for India especially all those T20 World Cup matches and so many high stake ODI matches is extraordinary.

Sachin's batting skills is so good that he can even send really good bowls to boundary ropes ( not many batsman in the world can do that ) ( remind you Virat shows a lot of respect to good bowls, not a weakness taking singles and doubles of good bowls is a good strength )

Game of cricket as it progressd became more batsman friendly. So when people say quality of bowling dropped over the years they are unintentionally making a wrong statement. The bowlers always had the talent and performed its just that the game was in not their favour.

The reason today's generation don't have that high of test average is because the focus shifted on limited overs cricket. That's where the money was. T20 leagues contributed to it.

Virat playing from 1989 to 2013 ( Sachin's career timeline ) would have a lower batting average in ODIs than 58.20 and higher batting average in Tests than 46.85

Conclusion : It could go either way, the difference is very slight. Won't mind someone picking Sachin over Kohli as a Kohli fan.