Kohli is not as far ahead of his era as Viv was in his.
He is one of the best for sure. I wouldn't begrudge anyone saying he is THE best either. Was just curious.
He's pretty far ahead.
The ones who come close are
1) Ab de villers : But he's of the older era tbf, his end overlapped with Kohli's peak.
2) Rohit Sharma: Only in India was Rohit comparable or superior. Even then he wasnt superior per say, he was just more destructive but only at home.
3) David Warner: I'm a huge huge fan of Warner but Warner is better.
4) Steve Smith: He outperformed Kohli in 2015 only but he was playing at home soil. The matches held in NZ still showcased Kohli to be superior.
5) Kumar Sangakkara: Again mostly an older gen player, Even so he isnt on Kohli's level hes pretty far.
6) Quinton de kock: A slightly superior batter to warner ability wise but not as good as Warner in icc tournaments. However both are far below Kohli.
7) Purple Patch Bairstow: Again just a 2019 purple patch thats all.
Yes Kohli isn't > in all metrics like viv was as viv had the best sr, avg, highest score, dominated in all conditons.
But the issue is the rise of t20 cricket and the 2 new ball era woth new PP rules has kinda stacked it against kohli. Its extremely difficult for someone to have a higher strike rate over openers and finishers now
And openers have a huge advantage on tonking the highest scorers due to PP rules in the first 10 overs.
But Kohli is head and shoulders > everyone in his era and this is coming from a guy who tears indian posters apart.
No one really surpassed Kohli in odi. Infact even now no one has really surpassed him despite him being 36. People have only ever surpassed him for a few months at home soil or certain series.
Gotta appreciate how good he is.
