Virat Kohli is the greatest cricketer of ODI-T20, Ganguly made it clear, but is he even better than Sachin Tendulkar?

Last Updated:January 20, 2025, 23:35 IST

Sourav Ganguly has started a new debate by naming Virat Kohli before Sachin Tendulkar among the great cricketers of ODI cricket.

Virat Kohli has scored 50 centuries in ODI cricket.

New Delhi. Whenever it comes to great cricketers, the list starts from Australia’s Don Bradman and continues till Sachin Tendulkar. But Sourav Ganguly has started a new debate by taking Virat Kohli’s name first in ODI cricket. Ganguly said in a CAB program that when it comes to white ball (ODI-T20), Virat Kohli is probably the greatest cricketer.

Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) honored the players of Under-15 women’s team on Monday. Sourav Ganguly also participated in this program. Ganguly said during this time, ‘Virat Kohli is a legendary cricketer of his tour. Just as there is Jhulan (Goswami) and Mithali (Raj) among women cricketers, similarly there is Virat Kohli in men’s cricket. Scoring more than 80 international centuries is unbelievable. For me he (Kohli) is probably the greatest player in the world in white ball cricket.

Ganguly, who has been India captain and BCCI president, said, ‘I was surprised by the way he (Kohli) batted after scoring a century in the Perth Test. He has struggled in the past too, but after the century in Perth, it was expected that he would score a lot of runs. But every player has strengths and weaknesses. There is no player in the world with whom this does not happen. It all depends on how you adjust because you are constantly facing the best bowlers.

Let us tell you that despite scoring a century on the Australia tour, Virat Kohli was able to score only 190 runs in 5 matches. Most of the time he returned to the pavilion by giving catches in the slip or gully. This also raised questions on his technique. Veterans like Sunil Gavaskar said that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should find their form by playing in Ranji Trophy. Both Rohit and Kohli took this advice seriously and agreed to play Ranji matches.

Most of the cricket lovers in the world consider Sachin Tendulkar to be the greatest batsman in modern cricket. Sachin has scored 18426 runs in 463 ODIs with the help of 49 centuries. Talking about Kohli, he has scored 13906 runs in 50 ODI matches. Virat has broken Sachin’s world record of 49 centuries in just 295 matches. Virat’s average in ODIs is 58.18. Sachin has scored runs in ODIs at an average of 44.83. Ganguly might have given more importance to average and century when he had placed Kohli above Sachin.