India’s 165-run win over Sri Lanka in Galle gave their World Test Championship campaign a boost, but the result also prompted a broader discussion about India’s evolution as a Test side away from home. For South African great AB de Villiers, that transformation can be traced through two of India’s biggest batting icons: Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, de Villiers credited Tendulkar with showing that Indian batters could succeed on seaming and bouncy pitches overseas, but argued that Kohli took that standard even higher.
“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,” de Villiers said.
The numbers, however, make the comparison more complicated.
Tendulkar remains the leading run-scorer in Test history with 15,921 runs in 200 matches. He scored 8,705 of those runs away from home and remains the highest run-scorer in overseas Test cricket.
Kohli finished his Test career in 2025 with 9,230 runs in 123 matches, including 4,774 runs in 66 Tests outside India.
The gap is also evident in SENA countries. Tendulkar scored 5,387 runs in 63 Tests in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia at an average of 51.30, with 17 centuries and 23 fifties. Kohli made 3,661 runs in 46 Tests at an average of 42.08, with 12 centuries and 14 fifties.
De Villiers’ assessment, therefore, appears to be less about the statistical record and more about Kohli’s influence on India’s modern Test identity. His performances and emphasis on fitness and fast bowling helped India become a more formidable side in overseas conditions.
That influence has also extended to the next generation. De Villiers pointed to KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal as players continuing the trend established by Tendulkar and Kohli.
“Because of that, there are quite a few players now like Rahul and Padikkal, who have started to up that trend and follow in the footsteps of a Virat and a Sachin,” he said.
De Villiers believes Rahul, despite having the technique to succeed overseas, needs to convert starts into bigger scores. His average away from home currently stands at 34.
“For him, the name of the game will be to make the big scores even bigger,” de Villiers said.
The numbers may favour Tendulkar, but de Villiers’ argument centres on influence. Tendulkar showed Indian batters that they could thrive overseas. Kohli helped turn that possibility into an expectation.
