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In his list of top 5 Indian ODI players, Shastri included four World Cup winners, but surprisingly there was no place for Yuvraj or any specialist bowler.
Ravi Shastri picks top 5 Indian ODI cricketers of all time. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri picked four World Cup winners in his list of top-five Indian ODI cricketers of all time. But surprisingly he didn’t mention Yuvraj Singh, who was the Player of the Tournament in the 2011 ODI World Cup, or Virender Sehwag, along with the legendary Anil Kumble, who is India’s highest wicket-taker in the 50-over format of the game.
Shastri also didn’t include Jasprit Bumrah but explained the reason behind omitting him.
According to Shastri, Virat Kohli is India’s best ODI cricketer of all time, and he is followed by Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
“I’ll go with Kohli, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma. And the only reason I’ve not put Bumrah there is because Bumrah has got another three or four years of cricket left,” Shastri said on Thursday.
“You know, these players, they’re more or less coming to the fag end of their careers. They 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 there when you look back. But these stand out for me.
“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.
Kohli has played a total of 304 ODIs for India since making his debut against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on August 18, 2008, and has scored 14,181 runs. He holds the world record for scoring the most centuries in the 50-over format of the game and is only behind Sachin Tendulkar (18,426) and Kumar Sangakkara (14,234) in the list of batters with the most runs in ODIs.
In the ongoing three-match ODI series between India and Australia, he has, however, failed to make any impact.
He got out for an eight-ball duck in the series opener on Sunday (October 19) in Perth and was sent back to the pavilion for a four-ball duck by Xavier Bartlett on Thursday (October 23) at Adelaide Oval.
October 24, 2025, 20:37 IST
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