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Can Virat Kohli be the greatest ODI batsman even without a stellar World Cup performance?

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SamNJ

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My ratings of top 3 batsmen from ODIs

1. Viv Richards
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Ricky Ponting

Other than great overall records all 3 of them were architects of their sides World Cup victories.

Kohli has so far played only 2 world cups but he was not anywhere near to these 3 greats. However in the latest WC he played he was 26 year old.

While I believe he will have a great world cup in England this year, I doubt India can pull this off with a weak middle order.

In case he fails to lead India to a WC win or is not the highest scorer by some margin there, do you think he will still be the greatest ODI batsmen of all time.

I am of the opinion that with such great record he has to be up there with these 3 irrespective of how he does at the WC but will be interesting to know opinions of members here.
 
No. The greatest ODI batsman should have a great world cup innings, specifically in knockout matches - either semifinal/final. This is why Viv is undisputed #1 of all era. Ponting is #2. Gilchrist is #3.
 
Kohli is already the greatest ODI batsman if he retires right now. Its Kohli-Sachin-Viv in that order. And by the time he retires, he will be the greatest 2nd batsman ever (all formats). Bradman-Kohli-Sachin in that order.

Remember, Bradman never played any world cup. So its not a criteria to judhe greatest batsman.
 
Bashing behendroff, Stonis, Lyon and Maxwell look at the quality of bowling sides these days.
 
Shandarchowka said:
No. The greatest ODI batsman should have a great world cup innings, specifically in knockout matches - either semifinal/final. This is why Viv is undisputed #1 of all era. Ponting is #2. Gilchrist is #3.
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Link me to the official ICC guidelines.
 
Rahul1 said:
Link me to the official ICC guidelines.
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There are no guidelines genius, this is how batsmen are generally rated. The semifinals/finals separate wheat from chaff. If Kohli retires without a single great match winning innings in a world cup semifinal/final, they the world will say 'Kohli was a great batsman when there was not much pressure'. There will be an asterisk * to his name attached forever, just like Sachin Tendulkar.
 
Shandarchowka said:
There are no guidelines genius, this is how batsmen are generally rated. The semifinals/finals separate wheat from chaff. If Kohli retires without a single great match winning innings in a world cup semifinal/final, they the world will say 'Kohli was a great batsman when there was not much pressure'. There will be an asterisk * to his name attached forever, just like Sachin Tendulkar.
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The jealousy is real
 
Shandarchowka said:
No. The greatest ODI batsman should have a great world cup innings, specifically in knockout matches - either semifinal/final. This is why Viv is undisputed #1 of all era. Ponting is #2. Gilchrist is #3.
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If Tendulkar was Pakistani, Gilchrist wouldn't be sitting in the top 3 of your list.
 
I dont think it is a massive requirement at all. He is already the best ever one day player, his only competitor is Sir Viv Richards.

When it comes to WCs then its a separate discussion and such players should be recognised separately.
 
Pakhs said:
I dont think it is a massive requirement at all. He is already the best ever one day player, his only competitor is Sir Viv Richards.

When it comes to WCs then its a separate discussion and such players should be recognised separately.
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Why? Are World Cups played in different format than ODIs? Why separate discussion? In fact I'd go on and say only World Cups should be discussed. Because that is when ODIs really matter. Sir Viv stands out head and shoulders above others.
 
I've seen this ridiculous obstacles put in front of Kohli time and time again only for him to come and smash it out of his way.

It just seems like somehow people want to drag Kohli down by hook or by crook and tend to find some ridiculous challenges for him. When he scores 700 runs in this year's World Cup (which I fully expect him to do), then it will be said "but he didn't score a 100 in a knockout game". When he retires with a close to 60 average in Test cricket as well, it will be said "well but he never played against Pakistan who had the world's best attack so how can he be an ATG Test player".

Absolute nonsense. Kohli is already an ATG in all 3 forms of the game and needs no new challenges.
 
Never seen anyone averages 55 after playing 200+ innings let alone 60!. The undisputed greatest odi player of all time!.

Hard time for some of the frustrated souls out here.
 
Shandarchowka said:
Why? Are World Cups played in different format than ODIs? Why separate discussion? In fact I'd go on and say only World Cups should be discussed. Because that is when ODIs really matter. Sir Viv stands out head and shoulders above others.
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Gilchrist will trounce everyone in that case. Viv scored in an era when One dayers were not that popular and matured format. He just cashed in.
 
lol at some of the pakistani posters here.... y'all hype up ahmed shehzads, asad shafiqs, umar akmals, mohammad rizwans, saad ali, etc like they set the world on fire or will set the world on fire..

yet do anything possible to degrade kohli and make up ridiculous milestones for him to achieve just so he can prove to you he's the best?

he's clearly one of the ATG and if you can't see that then stop watching cricket and stick with your ul haqs, misbahs etc.
 
Shandarchowka said:
There are no guidelines genius, this is how batsmen are generally rated. The semifinals/finals separate wheat from chaff. If Kohli retires without a single great match winning innings in a world cup semifinal/final, they the world will say 'Kohli was a great batsman when there was not much pressure'. There will be an asterisk * to his name attached forever, just like Sachin Tendulkar.
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Thot last world cup semi final that tkar played, he won the mom?
 
happydavy said:
Thot last world cup semi final that tkar played, he won the mom?
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But he was helped by Pakistani fielders and DRS as well know. Should have been out 6 times for 80 runs lol.. even Indians know that is the worst tendulkar innings only 2nd to his 100th 100 against Bangla bros :ma
 
Shandarchowka said:
And hence I rated Gilchrist above others.
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But he was part of a great team where he had the license to throw the bat around. They were able to reach final religiously. Role was different for him. Even if he gets out they had Ponting to follow. So that is not the right way to judge a player. How often teams even get to final. Very rarely. NZ reached the finals after a very very long time. SA is yet to reach the final. Pakistan has reached the final just twice in all these years. India just thrice. SL twice. WI has reached thrice. Basically you are boiling down to two or three innings to judge the quality of a batsman. Besides only in world cup you can bang teams like Namebia, Kenya to pad up your stats.
 
To some, a player needs to have a decent WC tournament to be classed as world-class/great, that's a load of rubbish. He's already the greatest of his generation and truly a legend for the millions of fans out there.
 
Kohli 17 innings 587 runs 41.92 average Strike rate 81.86

Made a match winning 100 against pakistan in the last world cup. 46 a gainst SA.

His first innings in a world cup was a 100 which was against Bangladesh.


Last world cup Kohli faced UAE,Windies,Ireland, Zimboks, Bangladesh in 5 matches. He didn't really have to score much there. He could have scored 5 hundreds easily padded up stats.
 
shariqnoor said:
I've seen this ridiculous obstacles put in front of Kohli time and time again only for him to come and smash it out of his way.

It just seems like somehow people want to drag Kohli down by hook or by crook and tend to find some ridiculous challenges for him. When he scores 700 runs in this year's World Cup (which I fully expect him to do), then it will be said "but he didn't score a 100 in a knockout game". When he retires with a close to 60 average in Test cricket as well, it will be said "well but he never played against Pakistan who had the world's best attack so how can he be an ATG Test player".

Absolute nonsense. Kohli is already an ATG in all 3 forms of the game and needs no new challenges.
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Spot on hit the nail on the head with those ridiculous "stress tests".
 
Kohli has 10,000+ ODI runs with nearly 60 average. He is already done enough to be ODI ATG. To be consider as the greatest among all will always be a subject of debate.
 
Not having test centuries in ENG is done and dusted, hopefully he can have a great ODI WC this year again in ENG.

I am not too optimistic about our team chances though because of poor middle order.

If we combine both ODI and T20, he is the greatest ever so far.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
But he was part of a great team where he had the license to throw the bat around. They were able to reach final religiously. Role was different for him. Even if he gets out they had Ponting to follow. So that is not the right way to judge a player. How often teams even get to final. Very rarely. NZ reached the finals after a very very long time. SA is yet to reach the final. Pakistan has reached the final just twice in all these years. India just thrice. SL twice. WI has reached thrice. Basically you are boiling down to two or three innings to judge the quality of a batsman. Besides only in world cup you can bang teams like Namebia, Kenya to pad up your stats.
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Naveen, you do have a point. But when you say 'strong' team, understand that Gilchrist was one of the reasons why that team became so strong. Even I can say Kohli has it easy because he has Dhawan, Dhoni, and Rohit with him unlike Babar who is a one man army. End of the day, strong world cup performances do matter and cricketers live for them. Viv would not be Viv if not for that murderous innings against England in the final in 1979. Gilchrist, Ponting, and Aravinda will also be remembered for their valiant hundreds in the finals. Similarly Dhoni is revered across the globe and considered a great because of that innings in 2011 final. Kohli is good but he will also know he has to deliver at the biggest stage else even he himself won't rate himself.
 
Shandarchowka said:
Naveen, you do have a point. But when you say 'strong' team, understand that Gilchrist was one of the reasons why that team became so strong. Even I can say Kohli has it easy because he has Dhawan, Dhoni, and Rohit with him unlike Babar who is a one man army. End of the day, strong world cup performances do matter and cricketers live for them. Viv would not be Viv if not for that murderous innings against England in the final in 1979. Gilchrist, Ponting, and Aravinda will also be remembered for their valiant hundreds in the finals. Similarly Dhoni is revered across the globe and considered a great because of that innings in 2011 final. Kohli is good but he will also know he has to deliver at the biggest stage else even he himself won't rate himself.
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Collis King must be a better btasman than Tendulkar then? you gotta be kidding. Ricahrds is revered for his career not for world cup performance. Same way all players are revered for career. ABDV despite never being able to take his side to world cup final is still considered to be a legendar ODI batsman. It is only icing on the cake. Not the cake itself. We never rate Dhoni over Kohli or Tendulkar. We don't rate Gambhir (who got 2 great world cup finals (T20 & ODI)) above Tendulkar or Kohli.
 
Shandarchowka said:
Why? Are World Cups played in different format than ODIs? Why separate discussion? In fact I'd go on and say only World Cups should be discussed. Because that is when ODIs really matter. Sir Viv stands out head and shoulders above others.
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Then you discuss only WC ODIs, but in most people view 10 ODIs cant cloud 400 ODIs.
 
Viv Richards played in 3 WC finals, failed in 2 and scored a match winning century while batting first in 1979. So his success rate is 33%.

Kohli so far played in 1 finals and semi finals, we were chasing on both occasions. Made a decent contribution in 2011 finals and failed in 2015 semis, so how exactly is he inferior to Viv when it comes to ODI WC's?

Viv has a 90 batting 2nd in 1983 semi finals but they were chasing only ~ 180.

Did Viv score a century batting 2nd in semis/ finals ? NO
Did Kohli fail batting first in finals ? NO

Kohli has minimum 2 more WC's left in him, will judge him if he fails both in 2019 and 2023 editions as a player.
 
Think he already might be top 5 atleast, in history. If he has a good WC 2019 it will elevate him to top spot.
 
Dude averages 70 while chasing and 80 in wins while chasing. The world has never seen anyone like him while chasing a target. He's already the greatest. Messi, Ronaldo, Kohli. They just are the best. Silverware is just a bonus.
 
Kohli is already the greatest ODI batsman ever. He has overtaken Viv and SRT in the ODI format. A good World Cup will merely be the icing on the cake.
 
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jnaveen1980 said:
Collis King must be a better btasman than Tendulkar then? you gotta be kidding. Ricahrds is revered for his career not for world cup performance. Same way all players are revered for career. ABDV despite never being able to take his side to world cup final is still considered to be a legendar ODI batsman. It is only icing on the cake. Not the cake itself. We never rate Dhoni over Kohli or Tendulkar. We don't rate Gambhir (who got 2 great world cup finals (T20 & ODI)) above Tendulkar or Kohli.
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You should see that I only pointed out Viv, Ponting, Gilchrist, Aravinda, Dhoni in my post. There's a reason why I haven't pointed out B grade players like Gambhir because they don't have a cake to put icing on it. To be the greatest players, you need to have the cake and then you need to put icing on it. ABD was good but he didn't have the icing. Whereas Viv, Ponting, Gilchrist have cakes and nice icings too. Hence they are the best.
 
Shandarchowka said:
You should see that I only pointed out Viv, Ponting, Gilchrist, Aravinda, Dhoni in my post. There's a reason why I haven't pointed out B grade players like Gambhir because they don't have a cake to put icing on it. To be the greatest players, you need to have the cake and then you need to put icing on it. ABD was good but he didn't have the icing. Whereas Viv, Ponting, Gilchrist have cakes and nice icings too. Hence they are the best.
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Dhoni is not better than Sachin and Kohli in ODI's even though he has a match winning 90 in WC finals. I am sure no Indian would rate him better than Sachin/ Kohli.
 
AamchiMumbaikar said:
Dhoni is not better than Sachin and Kohli in ODI's even though he has a match winning 90 in WC finals. I am sure no Indian would rate him better than Sachin/ Kohli.
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The world is not just India my friend. There are other countries too. Maybe Sachin and Kohli (so far) triumph Dhoni in aesthetics but have not surpassed his bloody mindedness he displayed in 2011 final. I personally rate Dhoni as the greatest ever Indian cricketer.
 
Shandarchowka said:
The world is not just India my friend. There are other countries too. Maybe Sachin and Kohli (so far) triumph Dhoni in aesthetics but have not surpassed his bloody mindedness he displayed in 2011 final. I personally rate Dhoni as the greatest ever Indian cricketer.
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Have you taken test cricket into consideration?
 
rhony said:
Dude averages 70 while chasing and 80 in wins while chasing. The world has never seen anyone like him while chasing a target. He's already the greatest. Messi, Ronaldo, Kohli. They just are the best. Silverware is just a bonus.
Click to expand...

Ricky Pointing made a good point when asked if Kohli is better than Sachin, he said you are looking at Sachin's overall career which includes his twilight years that saw his performance decrease several folds from his peak, while you are looking Kohli at his peak atm. This is unfair on both. Better would be to compare Kohli when he is done playing because like all players he is bound to go through a dip in performance near the end of his career.
 
Shandarchowka said:
No. The greatest ODI batsman should have a great world cup innings, specifically in knockout matches - either semifinal/final. This is why Viv is undisputed #1 of all era. Ponting is #2. Gilchrist is #3.
Click to expand...

So Australia-WI-India are the three greatest ODI teams and Pakistan is at par with SL?
 
Syed1 said:
Ricky Pointing made a good point when asked if Kohli is better than Sachin, he said you are looking at Sachin's overall career which includes his twilight years that saw his performance decrease several folds from his peak, while you are looking Kohli at his peak atm. This is unfair on both. Better would be to compare Kohli when he is done playing because like all players he is bound to go through a dip in performance near the end of his career.
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Agree. Need to see how Kohli fares in later years of his career. Dhoni was one of the best for 10 years. Not so much after that. That's why he is never discussed in the best ODI batsmen these days.

SRT was gun for 20+ years.
 
Shandarchowka said:
The world is not just India my friend. There are other countries too. Maybe Sachin and Kohli (so far) triumph Dhoni in aesthetics but have not surpassed his bloody mindedness he displayed in 2011 final. I personally rate Dhoni as the greatest ever Indian cricketer.
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Well you are talking about 2 Indian players. Obviously Indian fans have more weightage there.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Well you are talking about 2 Indian players. Obviously Indian fans have more weightage there.
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As you wish but doesn't change the fact that Sachin could only dream of Dhoni's clutch. Kohli at least can still correct his record this year.
 
Hell no. If Kohli can't do well in WC, he will always be no. 3 behind Viv and Tendulkar. I will give him a pass over Ponting and ABD, but not the other 2.

WC isn't everything yes, but nobody can hope to be GOAT without world cup. Every single ODI ATG batsman have great WC record or at least 1 match winning knock in elimination rounds.
 
Yeah he can the same way SA is greatest odi team without a wc or Bangladesh is best asian team in tecent times without a trophy
 
rhony said:
Dude averages 70 while chasing and 80 in wins while chasing. The world has never seen anyone like him while chasing a target. He's already the greatest. Messi, Ronaldo, Kohli. They just are the best. Silverware is just a bonus.
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Its around 100 with 21 tons
 
Smudger said:
Yeah he can the same way SA is greatest odi team without a wc or Bangladesh is best asian team in tecent times without a trophy
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Not the same. Team winning a world cup is not the same as INdividual winning a world cup. Besides Kohli's overall world cup stats is not all that bad. Only 130 runs behind Inzamam's grand total of world cup runs.
in 20 less number of matches.
 
He is an ATG without the world cup nos but GOAT status means he needs to be great in the biggest cricket tournament.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Not the same. Team winning a world cup is not the same as INdividual winning a world cup. Besides Kohli's overall world cup stats is not all that bad. Only 130 runs behind Inzamam's grand total of world cup runs.
in 20 less number of matches.
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His competition is not Inzamam but Sachin , Viv and Ab. We are talking about the greatest of all time
No one is saying that he should single handedly win the wc bit at least he should have a mos sort of wc like sachin and viv had
 
Last edited:
This quickly got converted into a troll thread thanks to one poster.
Sachin played some great innings in 2003 WC, was top scorer by some margin. He is one of the greatest ODI batsmen all time.
World Cup performances do matter a lot. It remains the pinnacle of limited overs cricket, despite endless bilaterals.
 
It's a win-win for some Pak fans. Depending on how it goes, they can prop Sachin or Kohli up against the other.

Regarding the question. Yes, he can, at the rate he is going. It won't matter if he has a great WC. The next task would be to smash a Ponting-like 100 in a WC final. It's never ending for him.
 
No, he's going to be firmly behind Richards, de Villiers, Sachin and Ponting until he does something of note in a World Cup.
 
Virat will still pay two world cups but just curious to know. Messi and Ronaldo doesn't have great world cup performances, do we consider them as the greatest or not
 
He has been ODI GOat for a couple of years now. Second place goes to SRT and then Vivian ji.
 
pillionrider said:
It's a win-win for some Pak fans. Depending on how it goes, they can prop Sachin or Kohli up against the other.

Regarding the question. Yes, he can, at the rate he is going. It won't matter if he has a great WC. The next task would be to smash a Ponting-like 100 in a WC final. It's never ending for him.
Click to expand...

Provided India gets to this year final, Chances of him doing so is very high.
 
K4Kohli said:
Virat will still pay two world cups but just curious to know. Messi and Ronaldo doesn't have great world cup performances, do we consider them as the greatest or not
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Cant compare Football to cricket sorry. In cricket there are only 8 teams out of which only 6 are well established.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Virat Kohli has now scored seven more ODI centuries than Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith combined.<br><br>&#55357;&#56401;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvIND?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AUSvIND</a> <a href="https://t.co/oB0xzvkkcG">pic.twitter.com/oB0xzvkkcG</a></p>— bet365_aus (@bet365_aus) <a href="https://twitter.com/bet365_aus/status/1085121690206531584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
To be a world atg, he has to at the very least score a 100 against the top bowlers of the 90’s against a full in form Waqar, Wasim, Shoaib, Murallitharan, Shane Warne etc to name a few. It may sound unfair but batsmen these days have it easy and have no idea what true adversity is. If Kohli was playing during the 90’s era he would have never made it big.
 
I have watched atleast 60% of SRT career and almost all to date Virats and I must say Virat is something different. I have not seen a machine like consistency from any other player ever.
 
Snak3eye5 said:
To be a world atg, he has to at the very least score a 100 against the top bowlers of the 90’s against a full in form Waqar, Wasim, Shoaib, Murallitharan, Shane Warne etc to name a few. It may sound unfair but batsmen these days have it easy and have no idea what true adversity is. If Kohli was playing during the 90’s era he would have never made it big.
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Jokes, Lots of lesser known batsmen of 90s got 100s against the ones you mentioned.
 
Lol no all this non sense about performing in a specific tournament against specific opposition when temperature is specific degree is just a way for nerds to feel self important.. Once Kohli finishes his career we would know where he ranks currently ODI rankings are as below

1. Sachin
2. Viv
3. Ponting

Kohli if he retired tomorrow will still be ranked 2nd best after Sachin but since he is still playing I won't rank him yet..

That's the fact rest everything is just nerds or bitter people bringing up non sense to make player x, y,z seem better or worse than others.
 
big_gamer007 said:
Lol no all this non sense about performing in a specific tournament against specific opposition when temperature is specific degree is just a way for nerds to feel self important.. Once Kohli finishes his career we would know where he ranks currently ODI rankings are as below

1. Sachin
2. Viv
3. Ponting

Kohli if he retired tomorrow will still be ranked 2nd best after Sachin but since he is still playing I won't rank him yet..

That's the fact rest everything is just nerds or bitter people bringing up non sense to make player x, y,z seem better or worse than others.
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Viv is better than Sachin and Virat will also finish above Sachin in my book.
 
Unless Kohli gets a 100 in every game in a World Cup and a 100 in the final he will never be an atg.
 
Pakhs said:
Viv is better than Sachin and Virat will also finish above Sachin in my book.
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You can have your opinion but Viv is below Sachin.. Kohli will be GOAT by the time his career finishes but let's wait for it to end.
 
Between Viv and Sachin

Both had strike rates ahead of their times.
Sachin played better attacks all around but Viv dominated every bowler of his time.
Both had averages which stood out.
Now some people rate Sachin because of his longevity and consistency, while some people rate Viv because of his WC final knock. I am more inclined towards second.
 
Snak3eye5 said:
To be a world atg, he has to at the very least score a 100 against the top bowlers of the 90’s against a full in form Waqar, Wasim, Shoaib, Murallitharan, Shane Warne etc to name a few. It may sound unfair but batsmen these days have it easy and have no idea what true adversity is. If Kohli was playing during the 90’s era he would have never made it big.
Click to expand...

Same with those bowlers. They should thank that they aren't playing in these times otherwise AB, Kohli and Rohit would have eaten them.
 
AuxiliA said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Virat Kohli has now scored seven more ODI centuries than Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith combined.<br><br>&#55357;&#56401;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvIND?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AUSvIND</a> <a href="https://t.co/oB0xzvkkcG">pic.twitter.com/oB0xzvkkcG</a></p>— bet365_aus (@bet365_aus) <a href="https://twitter.com/bet365_aus/status/1085121690206531584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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And Steve Smith has a century against the legend Kohli in a semifinal of World Cup. Kohli would gladly trade all of his hundreds for such a majestic knock in a heart beat. That is the value of a World Cup knockout hundred.
 
Shandarchowka said:
And Steve Smith has a century against the legend Kohli in a semifinal of World Cup. Kohli would gladly trade all of his hundreds for such a majestic knock in a heart beat. That is the value of a World Cup knockout hundred.
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No he won't neither any of Indian.
 
Shandarchowka said:
And Steve Smith has a century against the legend Kohli in a semifinal of World Cup. Kohli would gladly trade all of his hundreds for such a majestic knock in a heart beat. That is the value of a World Cup knockout hundred.
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Why would anyone trade 39 centuries for one century in the semi final lol Ganguly has a 100 in the semi final. I am sure he is not going to rate that 100 against Kenya over other centuries. World cup runs are good. But it is not that good to trade your career.
 
Aravind de Silva has two great knocks in WC. Infact his knock of 66 runs in 1996 semis is much better than Viv Richards 138 in finals considering the situation. Viv infact was outshined by CL king in that match till king was there.

Still de Silva is not considered in top 5 batsmen.
 
Kohli is miles ahead of others but may be just ahead of Sachin (look at his records and bowlers faced and the expectations and indian team was not so good)

Viv comes in third, ahead of ABD (SA always choke)
 
shariqnoor said:
I've seen this ridiculous obstacles put in front of Kohli time and time again only for him to come and smash it out of his way.

It just seems like somehow people want to drag Kohli down by hook or by crook and tend to find some ridiculous challenges for him. When he scores 700 runs in this year's World Cup (which I fully expect him to do), then it will be said "but he didn't score a 100 in a knockout game". When he retires with a close to 60 average in Test cricket as well, it will be said "well but he never played against Pakistan who had the world's best attack so how can he be an ATG Test player".

Absolute nonsense. Kohli is already an ATG in all 3 forms of the game and needs no new challenges.
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Agreed. Like people said how he had a poor record in England then he went there and showed everyone how he really is there. He is a great player and I wish Pakistan had someone like him.
 
He can do it but until he does, he ain't the greatest.

People are just being emotional right now.

We saw how fans turned against Kohli post 2015 WC SF and 2017 CT finals.
 
In my opinion Kohli is already the best ODI player ever and I believe he will continue to be even better. I am a Pakistan supporter but you must simply admire his cricketing skills.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
NOOOO
O
O

Greatest ever is not a joke.

No WC performance = No GOAT tag.
Click to expand...

uh? He got a 100 against Pakistan, His scored a 100 in the first world cup appearance. He averages 41 in world cups making 567 runs. Not like he is a total failure in the world cup. Even in the WC final he made a crucial 35 after two quick wickets upfront.
 
anoop said:
Aravind de Silva has two great knocks in WC. Infact his knock of 66 runs in 1996 semis is much better than Viv Richards 138 in finals considering the situation. Viv infact was outshined by CL king in that match till king was there.

Still de Silva is not considered in top 5 batsmen.
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That doesn't mean WC knock wasn't important.

It just means his overall career accomplishment isn't in the same league as Viv and SRT.

If he had the same career accomplishment as them, then his 96 heroics would have made him the GOAT or a strong contender for it.
 
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Can Pakistan defeat South Africa in the three-match ODI series (2024)?
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BouncerGuy
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