'I am sure Kohli is not paying any attention', says Lara on Tendulkar-Kohli comparison

Legendary West Indian cricketer Brian Lara spoke out about the ongoing Sachin Tendulkar-Virat Kohli comparison, stating that he is certain that the current Indian captain is 'not paying any attention to it".

Speaking at the 4th season of Krishnapatnam Port Golden Eagles Golf Championship in Bengaluru, Lara, who ended his career as the then-highest run-getter in Test cricket, only to be eclipsed by Sachin Tendulkar, insisted on the need to appreciate the careers of each player, calling Kohli's current run of form 'phenomenal'.

"If you talk about Sachin and me - you read about it and you hear about it the comparisons, and it is not a significant thing", Lara said.

"I am sure Kohli is not paying any attention to it. I think everyone gets it wrong. Everyone grows up in a different era and you have to appreciate what anyone brings to the table.

"In my era, you had (Rahul) Dravid, (Sachin)Tendulkar, (Jacques) Kallis, myself, Ricky Ponting - all bring something different to the table".

"How can any of us sit down here and say that somebody is better than Viv Richards, or Sir Garfield Sobers, or any of those great players?"

"We just appreciate the career they've had and move on. What Kohli is doing today is phenomenal - the rate of scoring, his fitness, and the importance he has on a lot of different things - it is great to see the game has a leader at this moment."

"Not just him - you have Joe Root and a couple of players who are really flying the flag for international cricket. Everyone should keep some sort of relevance in world sport", he added.

Kohli recently breached the 10,000-run barrier in ODI cricket and has 62 international hundreds to his name, and is currently fourth on the list of most combined hundreds by a batsman in his international career.

Lara, regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, ended his career in 2007 at 11,953 runs, until he was surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar in 2008.