Former India fast bowler Dodda Ganesh has taken a cheeky dig at South African great AB de Villiers after the latter made a strong comparison between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.

De Villiers, speaking on his YouTube channel, said he believes Kohli was better than Tendulkar when it came to batting in challenging overseas conditions.

The former South Africa batter praised Tendulkar for showing that players from the subcontinent could succeed in seaming and bouncy conditions. However, he felt Kohli took that legacy forward and raised the standard even further.

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“I think of someone like Sachin Tendulkar way back, who started that trend for India. Yet, he wasn’t as strong as someone like Virat Kohli, who was even better. But Sachin was the first guy to show that as a subcontinent batter, you can do well in bouncy and seaming conditions. Virat took that forward and raised the bar,” he said.

Ganesh clearly did not agree with De Villiers’ assessment and responded to the comments on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Pass on the weed, brother,” he wrote.

De Villiers praises Kohli and Tendulkar’s influence

De Villiers also spoke about the impact Kohli and Tendulkar have had on the current generation of Indian batters.

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He pointed to players such as KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal, saying their performances overseas show how Indian batters have continued to follow the path created by the two legends.

“Because of that, there are quite a few players now like [KL] Rahul and [Devdutt] Padikkal, who have started to up that trend and follow in the footsteps of a Virat and a Sachin,” he added.

However, De Villiers believes Rahul still needs to improve his record outside India. While praising the Karnataka batter’s technique and ability, he said Rahul needs to turn his starts into much bigger scores.

“KL is a guy with a sound technique and is a big asset in that Indian lineup. But he averages only 34 away from home. So you’ll expect more and that is one area where he has to work on. He has to get bigger scores once he gets in and not just get a 100 but make it a 180 because that first-ball duck and getting out to the newish ball is always around the corner. So for him, the name of the game will be to make the big scores even bigger,” said De Villiers.

The exchange comes after India’s 165-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle on August 19, with the performances of India’s batters once again drawing attention to their ability to handle difficult conditions away from home.

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