Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are two of the most vital cogs in India's batting line-up. Each of these cricketers can nonchalantly destroy bowling attacks and can single-handedly win matches for India. Widely considered as two of the greatest batters of all time, it has never been an easy task for cricket pundits to choose who is a better player among the duo. However, Pakistan's opener Imam-ul-Haq has tried to solve this riddle and according to him, Rohit Sharma is far more talented than Virat Kohli. He reckons that Virat Kohli doesn't possess the same amount of talent as the current India skipper.

“I feel that the amount of talent Allah has given to Rohit Sharma,  he has not given it to Virat Kohli perhaps. I have seen both of them bat, it seems like Rohit is batting in a replay. He has a lot of time. The first time I realised the true meaning of timing because I mostly field at point and I get to know. Virat Kohli has batted in front of me, so has Rohit Sharma but Rohit has been gifted a lot of time by Allah,” Imam-ul-Haq said on SAMAA News.

“He is one player who can change the game in two seconds. When he is set, he can hit at will. My wish is to give as influential performances like Rohit. If I play that style of cricket for Pakistan, I would be very happy,” Imam-ul-Haq added.

Rohit Sharma is currently in action in the second ODI of the three-match series against England at the Lord's. He was in imperious form in the first game at The Oval, smashing an unbeaten 76 off 58 deliveries to lead his team to a lopsided ten-wicket win.

Virat Kohli, on the other hand, didn't feature in the first ODI due to a groin injury but made his return to the side in the ongoing second fixture at the home of cricket.

The Delhi-born cricketer is witnessing a slump in form with his last century in international cricket coming way back in 2019.

Before Virat Kohli joined the Rohit Sharma-led Team India in the second ODI, he featured in two T20I games against England but could only register scores of 1 and 11 in his innings at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge respectively.

Virat Kohli also took part in the fifth and fifth final Test against the Three Lions at Birmingham but couldn’t reignite his form as he was dismissed for 11 and 20 in his two knocks there.

Virat Kohli had a woeful run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as he could manage to score only 341 runs at a dismal average of 22.73 in 16 matches.

Meanwhile, Imam-ul-Haq's comments quickly went viral on social media with a section of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma fans fighting with each other on the subject of who was better.

“Kohli is like Ronaldo – Hardworking, Rohit is more like Messi – Naturally gifted,” an Indian cricket admirer said on Twitter.

“Perfectly observed! Kohli just a name and Rohit is the class!” another claimed.

“May be right but hard work makes you the best in the world, that's why Virat is best in the world,” a third declared.

“Rohit isn't even in his league, let alone be better than VK! This is an image created by massive PR! Even in his worst phase, Rohit hasn't managed to run past his records. Wait till he returns to form!” a fourth wrote on the micro-blogging platform.

“We cannot even compare Virat with Rohit. Rohit is just hyped. Virat has records to show across formats. Rohit is not in the fab 4,” a fifth stated.

“3 double centuries. I think this is enough to describe Rohit Sharma,” a sixth concluded.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma supporters may be mocking each other but the celebrated cricketers share a deep admiration for each other.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma had come out in Virat Kohli's support after 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev had called for his removal from India's ODI and T20 teams.

“It is not difficult for us as we do not listen to the outside noise. I don’t know who the experts are. I don’t even understand why they are called experts. They are watching it from the outside, they don’t know what is going on inside. We are building a team, we have a certain thought process. A lot of deliberation goes behind it. There is a lot of thinking behind it. Boys are backed. Boys are given chances. People outside don’t know all these things. It is not important what is going on outside,” Rohit Sharma said in a press conference.

“If you talk of form, it goes up and down for everyone. The quality of a player never goes down and we should remember that. When you make certain comments, you should always remember that the quality of a player does not go down. We back that quality. It has happened with me, it has happened with XYZ, it has happened with everyone, it is nothing new. When some player has done so well consistently for so long, that can’t be written off in one or two series or one or two years. It takes people time to understand it completely, but those who are running the team know the importance of that quality,” Rohit Sharma added.