Virat vs Sachin: Who scored more runs in winning causes for India?

Indian cricket has been blessed with several legendary batters who’ve graced the pitch and earned plaudits for their remarkable strokeplay. However, none have received as much adulation as Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Both players are touted as the greatest batters to have played the game in their respective eras.

While Tendulkar dominated the 90s, leaving fans stunned with his consistency across both Tests and ODIs, Virat Kohli became a modern-day great, plundering runs at utmost ease in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. Over the years, Indian fans have often compared the two players for their career statistics. The one debate that still dominates cricketing conversations is who between the two was a bigger match-winner?

Here’s a deeper dive into both careers to find out who made a bigger contribution in his team’s victories:

1. Sachin Tendulkar

After making his debut in 1989, Sachin Tendulkar became an integral part of the Indian batting lineup in no time. While he was a prolific run scorer in Tests quite early on, his career took a dramatic turn after he started opening the innings in ODIs. In a career spanning 24 years, Tendulkar scored 34,357 runs, of which 17113 came in winning causes. He averaged a whopping 58.2 in matches won and scored 53 hundreds and 83 fifties.

2. Virat Kohli

Kohli made his India debut in 2008 after leading the Under-19 team to a historic World Cup triumph. After a quiet start, Kohli established himself as a proper chase master, guiding his team over the line in several massive run chases. In no time, Kohli became a proper match-winner across all three formats, leaving the cricket world stunned with his remarkable consistency.

So far, Kohli has scored 28,359 runs in his international career, out of which 18470 have come in winning causes. His average rises to 64.35 in winning matches, and he has hit 59 centuries and 91 fifties in winning causes.