When has he chased down massive totals outside India against Aus, SA, NZ and Eng?No he hasn't done that. And de Villiers didn't failed in 2015 WC. He was the third leading run scorer batting at 4-5 at an outrageous SR which is a commendable effort and his extent of destruction is second to Viv only.
I am surprised with your rankings i.e. putting 3 Indians in top5. How many WCs have they won if they have 3 batsmen in top5? Or do they just produce greatest batsmen but dont win WC? Australians have won 5 and you have just one batsmen in top5?? Having one South African or two Australian or two Indians or even two Pakistani is understandable but 3 in top5?? That's hilarious.
You are right that he has not chased down massive totals in Australia, SA, NZ and England. He has put his team in a position to do so, but he hasn't been able to finish the job. However, other players have not been able to do it even at home, let alone do it in other countries.
If you are going to judge Kohli with a different yardstick, then you will find some kinks in his armory. However, if you judge all batsmen by the same yardstick, then you will see that Kohli is lightyears ahead of everyone else in history when it comes to chasing down massive totals.
Let others get anywhere close to Kohli when it comes to chasing big totals at home, and maybe then we can compare how they fare in other countries.
Secondly, if we start doing micro-analysis, then we will find kinks in the armories of every great batsman, and I can give you many, many examples:
- Batting like a tail-ender in India did not stop Lara from being known as one of the greatest players of spin ever.
- Ponting was nothing special in the 90's against some of the ATG bowlers of that generation, and his best years came in the 2000s when most other teams did not have top quality bowlers, and Ponting had the luxury of not facing the likes of McGrath and Warne. However, he is still an ATG.
- Tendulkar scored a combined 22 runs in two World Cups final. That didn't stop him from becoming one of the top 3/top 5 batsman of all time.
- During the careers of Amla and de Villiers, SA have only won a single knockout match (WC 2015 QF) across all Limited Overs tournaments (WC, CT, WT20), and in that win they had no contribution with the bat.
However, in spite of being massive losers in big Limited Overs games, they are still considered fantastic players.
- Dhoni does not have a single ODI century outside Asia, but he is still an ATG.
- Viv Richards, the greatest ODI batsman of all time, had a mediocre record against Pakistan who had the second best bowling attack in his era. The best bowling attack was of course the WI, and he had the luxury of not playing against them.
Secondly, de Villiers did not fail in the 2015 World Cup, but he doesn't have the temperament to finish the job for his team and often loses composure when he takes his team close to victory. Against Pakistan, he played a brilliant innings but got out at the wrong time. He managed to do the same against Pakistan in 2013 when he played a brilliant innings but got out at the wrong time, and the others players especially Amla, pulled off one of the great chokes in ODI history.
In a situation like that, Kohli takes his team more often than not. de Villiers is a superb player, but he doesn't have Kohli's mental strength to win games.
Also, his reluctance to bat in the top-order has also cost SA many games. In spite of being the best batsman in the side, he restricts himself to very few overs. In 2015, he was in his peak and the number 5 position was too low for him. In the semifinal, he restricted himself to 45 deliveries only while du Plessis and Rossouw played mediocre innings at 3 and 4 and prevented SA from running away with the game. Had de Villiers batted at 3 in the 2015 World Cup, they would certainly have made the final.
Kohli bats at number 3 and grabs the game by the scruff of its neck. He does the dirty work himself and doesn't rely on the platform set by others which de Villiers does, which is why de Villiers' own countryman and former SA cricketer Cullinan said that "Kohli at number 3 shapes more ODI wins than de Villiers".
Even if we go back to the 2013 CT, in the SF against England, de Villiers hid in the dugout when the SA top-order had collapsed in swinging conditions, and sent a bowling all-rounder ahead of him. However, cricket is a great leveler and when de Villiers came out to bat in the 13th over when the ball had stopped swinging, he got a 10 ball duck.
In the final, in similarly swinging conditions, Kohli came at 3 and steered India's innings. Cricket is a game of character and guts, more so than talent. De Villiers has the latter in abundance, but he clearly lacks the former, which is why for all his statistics he has failed to win any big matches for his team.
So the bottom-line is that if we start looking at things with a microscope, no batsmen will tick all boxes. However, the ones who tick more boxes than others tower above the rest, and Kohli ticks more boxes than any ODI batsman in history except for Viv. The only box that is left for him to tick is to have a great World Cup or play a great, match-winning innings in a World Cup knockout, and if he achieves that, he will IMO become the greatest ODI batsman of all time.
India have produced some of the best ODI batsmen of all time, but winning the World Cups is a function of the overall strength of the team and not just good batting. India haven't had the bowling to win more than two World Cups. For example, the 2003 World Cup final was clearly lost by the bowlers.
Australia have five World Cups but take a look at how good their bowling was. McGrath has been the greatest World Cup bowler ever and Shane Warne has been brilliant as well, not to forget the likes of Starc, Lee etc. Australia have batted well in World Cups but their bowlers have won them the big moments.
In 1999, it was their bowling that won them the SF and Final. In 2003, their batting collapsed in the SF but the bowlers again delivered. In 2015, Starc was outstanding, and they didn't have to do much batting in the QF and the Final. In 2007, four of the top six wicket-takers were Australians. Even if we go back to 1987, it was their bowlers who defending totals in the SF and Final and especially in the Final where England were cruising at one point.
If India in the 2000s would have Australia's bowling attack of McGrath, Warne, Lee etc., they would have won more World Cups as well. Similarly, put Kohli in that Australian side and he will give you World Cups as well.
You can find it hilarious if you want, but it is a fact that Kohli, Tendulkar and Dhoni are certainly among the top 5 ODI batsmen in history.
