India legend Sunil Gavaskar believes that veteran India player Virat Kohli is the ‘greatest’ batsman in the one-day format of the game.
Speaking on JioHotstar, Gavaskar said that even the modern-generation players accept the greatness of Kohli.
“It’s not just me. Those who have played with him and against him all agree that he is the greatest in the one-day format.”
Kohli scored his 52nd hundred in ODI cricket against South Africa in Ranchi and became the first male cricketer in the world to reach that many hundreds in any format of the game. The Delhi-born cricketer played a brilliant knock of 135 off 120 balls, including 11 fours and seven sixes at a strike rate of 112.50, and stitched a partnership of 136 runs off 109 balls with Rohit Sharma to lay the foundation for a big score.
Pointing towards Ricky Ponting’s comments on Kohli, Gavaskar said: “It is rare—very rare—to get praise from an Australian. So if an Australian says he’s the best, then there’s no argument.”
Overall in his career, the 37-year-old right-hander has played 306 ODIs and scored 14,390 runs at an average of 58.02, which includes 52 hundreds and 75 fifties.
On Kohli’s comparison with the icon Sachin Tendulkar, Gavaskar said: “Sachin has been right up there with 51 hundreds, but when you pass the great Sachin Tendulkar, then you know where you stand. It’s almost lonely at the top at the moment.”