On current form, Virat Kohli doesn’t look long for this parish – his latest effort of five against England in Cuttack this week doing nothing to dispel the theory that he is now playing from memory.
How long he continues as an international batsman will more than likely come down to the decision of the 36-year-old himself. Let’s face it, dropping him is akin to heresy in India.
India’s selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar, have resisted intervening thus far despite a long-term decline in Test cricket that has seen him dismissed for 17 or fewer in 11 of his past 13 innings.
Kohli’s slump is not necessarily format-specific either, and comes at a time when futuristic white-ball players are sprouting up all over the subcontinent. Although their former captain remains at the heart of India’s attempts to win the Champions Trophy next month, he has been too good a player to continue as a passenger.
The next 50-over World Cup is still the best part of two years away and so, if one of the game’s all-time greats is nearing his end and this is to be his final major tournament, how does he compare to those that have gone before?
In descending order, Mail Sport selects the 10 best one-day batsmen of all time. It’s a very tough list to crack – there’s no room for Rohit Sharma’s 32 hundreds and world-record individual high score of 264, for starters – but who comes out as the definitive No 1?
Virat Kohli has been declining in all formats – but only he will decide when he should retire
Kohli made five against England in Cuttack this week as part of a long-term struggle for form
But do Kohli’s exploits still secure him top spot in our definitive list of the best ODI batters?
10. SANATH JAYASURIYA
Having pogoed around the batting order during his first 55 one-day appearances, a permanent switch to opener in 1994, following an unremarkable trial run the previous year, revolutionised not only Sri Lanka’s cricket but the format itself.
Jayasuriya’s brutal assaults against the new ball had debilitating effects on opponents. During Sri Lanka’s show-stopping 1996 World Cup win, his man-of-the-match blitzes left India and England in states of paralysis. Faced with much reduced asking rates, team-mates then toddled over the finish line.
Under his captaincy, the Sri Lankans reached the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup and, with him back in the ranks, the final of 2007.
The previous year, he capped an astonishing 5-0 white-washing of England with a rambunctious 152 in the final match at Headingley that catapulted Sri Lanka to their 322-run target with 12.3 overs to spare.
Sanath Jayasuriya set new rules for one-day batting once he moved to the top of the order
Sri Lanka reached the 2003 World Cup semi-final and the 2007 final under his captaincy
9. JOS BUTTLER
A global superstar for his impact in Twenty20 cricket, particularly at the Indian Premier League, he successfully transferred astronomical scoring rates to the 50-over game.
No one to have averaged more than his 39.59 in the format’s history can better his strike rate of 116.35.
His selfless attitude was at the core of England’s transformation from also-rans to all-stars a decade ago. In an 18-month period from mid-2014, he showed others the way, hitting what at the time were England’s three fastest one-day hundreds – against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, New Zealand at Edgbaston and Pakistan in Dubai, the latter off just 46 balls.
But he also possesses poise. Often overlooked is his contribution to England’s World Cup final win of 2019 when his 59 off 60 balls helped rebuild the innings alongside Ben Stokes.
England’s Jos Buttler is one of the most selfless and destructive one-day batters of all time
Buttler was at the centre of England’s greatest one-day moment to win the 2019 World Cup
8. RICKY PONTING
One of the best readers of a situation of all time, his adaptability at No 3 was key to Australia’s golden generation of limited-overs cricket.
A World Cup winner on three occasions, he took the man of the match gong in the final of 2003 with a batting masterclass against India, taking advantage of the ball flying further at altitude in Johannesburg and striking eight sixes in an unbeaten 140.
Not as explosive as team-mate Adam Gilchrist, it was his consistency that proved integral to Australia reeling off 26 consecutive victories at World Cups between 1999-2011.
He also led Australia to two Champions Trophy titles during this period, one in which he became the first man in history to score ODI hundreds against all other Test nations and finished as the world’s most prolific batter in both 2005 and 2009.
Ponting’s Australia reeled off 26 consecutive World Cup victories from 1999 to 2011
He became the first man in history to score ODI hundreds against all the other Test nations
7. MS DHONI
A batsman who made taking a game down to the wire an art form, promoting the concept that you had to still be in it to win it.
More often than not it was a policy that worked, Dhoni leaving the field not out on an incredible 84 occasions, contributing significantly to a one-day international average in excess of 50.
Even on pitches becoming tired and slow towards the death, once India’s long-serving captain had his eye in, he possessed the flair and muscle to clear the ropes.
The helicopter shot over mid-wicket became synonymous with Indian victory marches during 2008-09, a spell in which Dhoni was twice named the world’s best one-day player. Eight times in nine years between 2006-14, he made the ICC’s team of the year.
His greatest moment on the international stage came in 2011, when his unbeaten 91 – capped with the match-winning six soaring over long on – won the World Cup for India against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, and man of the match honours.
MS Dhoni struck the winning six to get India over the line on home soil in the 2011 World Cup
He was twice named the world’s best one-day player and he was in eight ICC teams of the year
6. BRIAN LARA
With his bat scything down on deliveries with its customary guillotine precision, his lightning footwork having taken him into perfect position, Lara left indelible marks on the international game.
It is without question that his greatest feats came in Test cricket, but his supremacy on that stage should not dilute his achievements on another.
Because for six and a half years, from early 1992, the left-hander from Trinidad held the title of the world’s best limited-overs batter.
His reign at the summit of the ICC’s rankings did not coincide with a period of West Indies team success, although it was not for want of trying on his part: twice, in 1993 and 1995, he outscored the international field and he was only the second player to go on to breach the 10,000-run barrier.
Brian Lara had guillotine-like precision with a flashing blade that scythed down on the ball
For six and a half years the left-hander from Trinidad was the world’s best one-day batter
5. MICHAEL BEVAN
The original master of the run chase, one half-expected if a nuclear bomb went off in the middle of an innings, Bevan and the cockroaches would still be there at its end.
An automatic white-ball pick during a decade of Australian dominance, contributing to two World Cups, including the dashing of English dreams in 2003 when he arrived at the crease in Port Elizabeth with his team 48 for four.
Chasing 205, they were later 135 for eight, but Bevan left his calling card, the winning runs taking him to an unbeaten 74, with two balls unused.
A year earlier, he played the innings of his life: Australia were 82 for six, chasing 246 to beat New Zealand in Melbourne. Seven down, 103 were needed from 80 balls.
Of course, Bevan saw them home, finishing on 102 off 95 – one of six hundreds and 67 not outs contributing to a phenomenal average of 53.58.
Michael Bevan was a master of the run chase, and ended up with a phenomenal 53.58 average
Bevan (right) walks off after crushing England’s dreams at the 2003 World Cup
4. AB DE VILLIERS
The first player to finish a one-day international career with a batting average above 43 and a strike rate in excess of a run-a-ball.
What set De Villiers apart from his peers was his 360-degree vision for run-scoring, opening up the entire ground with a clinical combination of power-hitting, ramps, dinks and flicks.
AB de Villiers had a penchant for 360 run-scoring, opening up the entire ground
He smashed 149 not out against the West Indies in 2015 despite coming to bat in the 39th over
At times, he was simply unstoppable. Never more so than against West Indies at the Wanderers in 2015 when he walked to the crease with South Africa 247 for one in the 39th over. In a flash, he broke the ODI records for fastest 50 (16 balls) and hundred (31), showering the stands with 16 sixes on the way to an unbeaten 149.
A month later, he set a new mark for the fewest deliveries for a score of 150, taking just 64 against the same opposition at the 2015 World Cup. All three of his records remain intact.
3. VIV RICHARDS
A player with a beautiful brutality at the crease that made him years ahead of his time.
Richards won the first two World Cups with West Indies, settling the second with a breathtaking 138 not out in the final against England at Lord’s in 1979. He did not play in such a tournament in coloured clothing, with a white ball or donning a helmet.
Viv Richards managed to make early one-day cricket look like a different game
But he still managed to make early one-day cricket look like a different game whenever he came to the crease.
Never more so than in Manchester in 1984 when England took another pounding: Richards made 189, the rest of the West Indies XI combining for 83, and No 11 Michael Holding contributed 10 to a century stand.
It took 13 years for that score to be surpassed as the highest score in one-day internationals.
2. SACHIN TENDULKAR
A return of 49 hundreds belies the fact that his first did not come until his 79th appearance – most careers don’t even last that long.
Once he got the taste, however, Tendulkar developed a voracious appetite, taking him to 18,426 runs – a tally unlikely to be surpassed. Kumar Sangakkara is more than 4,000 behind him in second place and Kohli, the highest-scoring active player, is 500 further back.
Puncturing gaps in the field from a low, balanced base, he caressed every stroke in the book off front and back feet, and never allowed the burden of expectation placed upon him by more than a billion supporters to distract his focus.
Sachin Tendulkar’s 18,426 one-day runs will almost certainly never be matched
He became the first man to score 200 in a one-day international and was the 2003 World Cup’s player of the tournament
There were times when the little master dragged his team towards trophies – such as finishing as the 2003 World Cup’s player of the tournament – only to fall at the last.
Some of his achievements owe as much to career longevity as his majestic skill: he became a world champion 22 years after making his debut for India and he was almost 37 years of age when he struck one-day international cricket’s first double hundred.
Remaining so consistent for so long is what made him phenomenal.
1. VIRAT KOHLI
How could it be anyone else? Ultimately, cricket is a numbers game and King Kohli’s numbers are extraordinary.
A career average that hit its zenith of 60 in 2019 still stands at 58 today. The watermarks of the others in the top 10 most prolific players in history are all below 50. No one with more than 2,500 ODI runs has a higher average.
There has been no let up in this singular man’s drive to score runs and it is the nature of them that sums up why there is Kohli then daylight in this particular format.
Despite his decline, Kohli will go down as the greatest ever one-day batsman
He is the first cricketer to score 50 ODI hundreds, and comes to life in a run chase
The first cricketer to score 50 ODI hundreds, at a rate of one every six matches, comes to life whenever India bat second. Pressure? What pressure?
Twenty-seven of his tons have come during chases, smashing Tendulkar’s tally of 17. Nine of them when India have been set 300-plus targets.
Sometimes separating the greatest from the very good is a fool’s errand, but whenever he exits, Kohli will walk away the undisputed middle-distance champion.
Surrey supporters have been denied the fun prospect of watching a Matthew Fisher bowling from either end this April by New Zealand Cricket’s decision to prescribe their uncapped seamer post-season rest, rather than allow him to link up at the Oval for a short County Championship stint.
Saturated international schedules, combined with the concurrent running of Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League tournaments, have contributed to the 18 first-class counties finding it harder than ever to secure overseas signings.
And so champions Surrey got creative, delving deep into New Zealand’s talent pool, only for their advances for the Northern Districts seamer to be rebuffed. They have already acquired one-cap England international Matthew Fisher, a 27-year-old with 144 first-class wickets at 26.58 to his name, from Yorkshire this winter.
Two years younger, the Kiwi version has 51 at 24.11 and had been identified by Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart as being on a similar career trajectory to Black Caps paceman Will O’Rourke.
Surrey have already signed one Matthew Fisher this winter, with the Yorkshire bowler arriving
Tom Banton is back in the England setup after three years away, as a reward for his hard graft
Tom Banton’s England recall following a three-year absence is arguably as much a lesson for young county cricketers as reward for his own hard graft.
Banton, 26, could easily have followed the path of others and left a modest first-class record behind for a franchise future.
Instead, he got his head down, compiling 891 County Championship runs for Somerset in 2024 – more than his previous four seasons combined – developing crucial batting rhythm in the process.
Its art is hard to learn on a diet of seven and 26-ball visits to the crease and Banton now appears to be experiencing the best of both worlds, transferring his domestic form to the ILT20 with two hundreds and being summoned to India ahead of tomorrow’s final one-day international of the tour.
