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Virat Kohli, the greatest ODI bat ever?

Is Virat Kohli the Greatest ODI bat of all Time

  • Yes

    Votes: 19 47.5%
  • No

    Votes: 21 52.5%

  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
I am doing this to prove a point.
In this case , kohli's 18/60 is not the best ever stats in history over a period. I can start from any date as long as it stretches 3 years and more than 50 or 60 matches to become comparable.
Go on then, but actually make it comparable rather than the bollocks you've been spouting about Sharma and Warner when they're both significantly lower ratios over a smaller amount of games.

Seeing as there's less than 20 batsmen who have made 18 ODI tons in their whole careers, it shouldn't take you long to realise how wrong you are.
 

Pap Finn Keighl

International Debutant
Go on then, but actually make it comparable rather than the bollocks you've been spouting about Sharma and Warner when they're both significantly lower ratios over a smaller amount of games.

Seeing as there's less than 20 batsmen who have made 18 ODI tons in their whole careers, it shouldn't take you long to realise how wrong you are.
Rohit Sharma 14 / 51 - significantly lower ratio than 18 / 60 ?

Warner 10/41 is much closer than the difference between Lara / ponting and Sachin.

I liked the 2nd point.
It's like going ga ga over size of an elephant when comparing it to a T-Rex

When Sachin scored 24 hundreds in 5 years , only 2 other Batsmen in history managed more than 15. Anwar and Haynes, 17 each.
 

_00_deathscar

International Regular
The other example is Kapil's batting.
People dismisses him as a low 20 AVG batsman. But when you check closer ,
Kapil Dev is the top ranked Indian batsman for a decade in 80s
He managed 30 AVG and 100 plus SR between 1982-1988. 7 years and more than 100 innings. Many specialist batsmen avgd same at far lesser SR , 30 at 70 good enough for a specialist batsman then.

People rates Kapil the batsman as Afridi's equivalent , may be they are correct. But there is one difference. Kapil's best ever ranking was 5 or 6 and throughout the career he was inside top 20 batsmen in the world . Afridi's career best ranking was 25 or 26.

We are talking about 7 years , 10 years , 100 plus matches ..etc not 1 year or 15 matches.
So , when you read 23 at 95 you know there is more to it than you see.
I'm really disappointed it's taken you so long, again, to mention Kapil Dev where completely irrelevant.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Rohit Sharma 14 / 51 - significantly lower ratio than 18 / 60 ?
Yes, ore than 10% lower.

Warner 10/41 is much closer than the difference between Lara / ponting and Sachin.
Relevance to the fact it's a lot lower ratio then Kohli's?

I liked the 2nd point.
It's like going ga ga over size of an elephant when comparing it to a T-Rex
It really isn't - it's showing that your point about 18 tons in 60 innings not being the best ever to be complete and utter tripe seeing as that run of games is more than most other batsmen have scored in whole careers (the minimum length of which is 171 innings).
 

Malcolm

U19 Vice-Captain
my top 5 odi bat

Viv
Tendulkar
Kohli
Abdv
Ponting/beven/lara/dhoni

If kohli can produce a matchwinning innings in the WC final , i will rate him above tendulkar.
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
my top 5 odi bat

Viv
Tendulkar
Kohli
Abdv
Ponting/beven/lara/dhoni

If kohli can produce a matchwinning innings in the WC final , i will rate him above tendulkar.
Welcome to cricketweb :)
Agree with most part of your top 5, but was Lara really worthy of a top 5 contender ?

His ODI career can be split to 2 halves. Great in the first half but only decent in the second half.

He is certainly an underrated ODI batsman though. Scored gun hundreds when he got going against high quality opposition. Should be there somewhere in top 10.
 

Kilowatt

School Boy/Girl Captain
Very strong arguments from @Pap Finn Keighl. Well done Sir.

Have to say I didn't rate Tendlya as high as that and definitely below Viv but that purple patch certainly shows him up. On sheer mastery over the art of batting, you have to put Viv above Tendulkar (and everyone else) but Tendulkar's consistency and longevity against incredible pressure are nothing to be sneezed at.

Did get something new to learn today. OTOH the predictable replies to Pap's posts once again show why this forum is otherwise ********.
 

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
ODI hundreds are basically the worst way of measuring how good an ODI batsman is.

1) It heavily favours the top order;
2) It heavily favours players who play on small grounds where run scoring is generally faster (so not Eden Gardens);
3) It heavily favours good players from poorer teams;
4) It heavily favours players who have played more recently.

Other than 4, Tendulkar falls into the first 3 categories. Virat has had it harder in that he bats lower and has a slightly better team but he has it easier since he has played more recently.

It's a remarkable stat for sure, but 18 hundreds doesn't mean as much today as it used to.

Viv would have converted at a much higher rate if he played today but he still would probably be scoring less runs than Kohli since he had better players ahead of him and batted lower. I'd love to see him break a few world records for "largest six" with a modern stick though.
 

Borges

International Regular
OTOH the predictable replies to Pap's posts once again show why this forum is otherwise ********.
This is the greatest and the the bestest cricket forum in the universe.
The Miyagi vs. Miyagi exchanges that you refer to as very predictable is what makes this forum so incredibly wondrous.
 

Pap Finn Keighl

International Debutant
Welcome to cricketweb :)
Agree with most part of your top 5, but was Lara really worthy of a top 5 contender ?

His ODI career can be split to 2 halves. Great in the first half but only decent in the second half.

He is certainly an underrated ODI batsman though. Scored gun hundreds when he got going against high quality opposition. Should be there somewhere in top 10.
Lara is my 6th best odi Batsman after
Sachin
Viv
ABDV
Kohli
And Dhoni

And just ahead of Ponting and Bevan.

Lara avgd 40 at 80 which is comparable to Ponting stats and only behind Sachin for the generation.
Ponting peak came in 00s when scoring became easier.
Lara played in wrong place for half the career.
Lara's top order stats similar to Sachin or Viv stats.
Lara ranked number 1 odi Batsman in the world straight 7-8 years.
 

trundler

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Lara is my 6th best odi Batsman after
Sachin
Viv
ABDV
Kohli
And Dhoni

And just ahead of Ponting and Bevan.

Lara avgd 40 at 80 which is comparable to Ponting stats and only behind Sachin for the generation.
Ponting peak came in 00s when scoring became easier.
Lara played in wrong place for half the career.
Lara's top order stats similar to Sachin or Viv stats.
Lara ranked number 1 odi Batsman in the world straight 7-8 years.
Wrong. So, so wrong.
 

Bolo

State Captain
Better than Ponting though? Just wrong.
I rank ponting way above lara, but I don't see any reason why this needs to be the case, and he's provided some decent reasons why it should not be the case.

What's the argument against Lara, other than the fact that concensus ranks him lower?
 
Last edited:

trundler

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Ponting was Ponting. Until Kohli came around he was the best #3 since Viv. Taking Lara's peak and comparing it with Ponting's entire career is biased to start with. Lara was great in the first half and only decent in the second. Ponting was pretty awesome throughout and peaked higher. Obviously wasn't up to it in the last few years but that quarter final century was fantastic. Which brings me to my final point, nothing Lara did in ODIs compares to Ponting's best ODI innings. It's hardly a debate. Ponting slam dunks it.
 

Bolo

State Captain
Are you sure ponting was a better number 3 than Lara? Lara averages more and strikes significantly faster at number 3.

The cherry-picking the peak thing is nonsense, but lara peaked higher than ponting, who was pretty consistent.

Not sure why a single innings should be used to judge a career. Or what you consider the best from either of them. I guess I'd pick Ponting WC final 100 and Lara's QF 100 here assuming you are attaching some weight to circumstances, in which case Lara's was both the better and the more impactful innings. Didn't watch pontings QF 100 ftr.
 

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