Ravi Shastri names India's five greatest ODI cricketers: Virat Kohli tops list, Jasprit Bumrah misses out

Former India coach Ravi Shastri unveiled his top five ODI cricketers: Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, and Rohit Sharma. Shastri lauded their exceptional consistency, match-winning prowess, and significant contributions across generations, including multiple World Cup wins and captaincies. He emphasised their enduring legacies in Indian cricket history.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (Getty Images)

NEW DELHi: Former India coach and 1983 World Cup winner Ravi Shastri has revealed his list of India’s five greatest ODI cricketers of all time, a star-studded lineup that includes Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni , Kapil Dev and Rohit Sharma .Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Speaking on FOX Cricket, Shastri placed Virat Kohli at the top, acknowledging his remarkable consistency and match-winning ability over more than a decade. Alongside Kohli, Shastri included three World Cup-winning players – Dhoni, Tendulkar and Kapil – forming the backbone of India’s golden era in one-day cricket.

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“I’ll go with Kohli, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma,” Shastri said. “And the only reason I’ve not put Bumrah there is because Bumrah has got another three or four years of cricket left. You know, these players, they’re more or less coming to the fag end of their careers. They’ve played over a decade, some over a decade and a half, so I would put… And it’s tough to pick. There are so many other good players when you look back. But these stand out for me.”

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Explaining his picks, Shastri highlighted the rare legacy of leadership and impact among the five icons. “They’ve been outstanding contributors. Two World Cup captains there, who won the World Cup as well. And barring Rohit Sharma, everyone in that list are World Cup winners. But you can’t take Rohit out of the mix with three double hundreds and over 11,000 runs. He’s number three in the list of run-getters. And all these on the given day are genuine match winners,” he added. Shastri’s chosen five collectively embody India’s ODI excellence across generations — Kapil Dev, the architect of the 1983 triumph; Tendulkar, the heartbeat of the 1990s and 2000s; Dhoni, the 2011 World Cup-winning captain; Kohli, the modern-era run machine; and Rohit Sharma, the record-breaking opener who led India to the 2023 World Cup final.

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