The greatest ODI XI of all time

#3 Virat Kohli

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Virat Kohli’s Batting – Song of Ice and Fire

The youngest player in this XI, he is every bit a legend himself. The current poster boy of Indian cricket has gone from strength to strength ever since making his debut as a teenager 8 years ago. Within a short span of time he has established himself as one of the all-time greats. Batting at #3 for India, he has become the main stay for India in all formats of the game. He averages 51 in ODI’s, totally unheard of for a top-order batsman before.

In the last 2 and half decades, few of the finest #3 batsmen have been stalwarts in their own right - people like Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Kumar Sangakkara. Virat Kohli’s skills is a combination of all them. He bats aggressively like Ponting, he is an accumulator like a Dravid/Kallis and he is very classy a-la Sangakkara. So all-in-all he is the complete #3 batsman, the best of the lot.

The main aspect of Virat’s batting is his ability to handle pressure; he thrives batting in crunch situations. He not only sets up huge chases, but also finishes them. Be it the 133* at Hobart, 183 at Dhaka, twin centuries against Australia at Jaipur and Nagpur chasing over 350 both the times. He has already scored 15 hundreds at a whopping average of over 61 while chasing.

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
Virat Kohli	2008-2016	171	163	23	7212	183	51.51	8016	89.97	25	36	10

He has already won a Champions trophy, World Cup and will be looking to add a couple of more tournaments to his resume.

Contenders: Martin Crowe, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and Kumara Sangakkara.