Ravichandran Ashwin has spent years sharing the dressing room with both Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli , but when asked to settle the never-ending debate over who is the better batsman, the former India spinner has a clear answer.

For Ashwin , Tendulkar remains ahead of Kohli , and his reasoning goes beyond numbers. The era in which Tendulkar played and the enormous responsibility he carried as Indian cricket 's biggest hope are central to Ashwin's argument.