ODI Cricket: Top 10 greatest batting streaks

#1 Virat Kohli (India): 2016-Present

India v Australia - ODI Series: Game 2

Matches: 61, Runs: 4012, Average: 85.3, Highest: 160*,100/50: 18/15, Strike-Rate: 99.

Virat Kohli is quite simply the greatest ODI batsmen of all time, speaking statistically. In that case, it is also fitting that he is the one who sits atop of this list. For the better part of this decade. it was a three way race between Kohli, Amla and De Villiers for being the best batsmen in the world. Kohli was up there with the very best, but never at the top. All of this changed dramatically from 2016 onward.

Virat has barged so far ahead of his contemporaries in the last 4 years that it is not even amusing anymore.

Since the beginning of 2016, Kohli has scored 4012 runs at an average of 85, including 18 hundreds and 15 half-centuries. To put this into perspective, only 15 men have scored more than 18 centuries in their ODI career. The word Bradmanesque is thrown around quite loosely but with the way Kohli is going, he might just manage to tweak the cricketing vocabulary.

He has been captain for most of this duration as well, and has led India to series wins in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka. India also reached the final of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy during this phase.

The pinnacle of Kohli's batting was the 2018 tour to South India. He scored 558 runs at an average of 186 as India won their first Odi series in the Rainbow Nation. Kohli also became the first Indian batsman to score 3 consecutive ODI hundreds, a feat which he achieved against West Indies in 2018.

Australia is the only team that has been able to keep Kohli under some check during this period but then again he averages 57 against them with 5 hundreds to his name. He is also the first Indian batsman to cross the 900 point barrier in ODI cricket, and currently sits at No. 6 in the all-time rankings. Kohli's streak is still ongoing, it is highly unlikely that he will be improve on these numbers.

However, you don't bet against King Kohli, do you?