Not Sachin Tendulkar! Ricky Ponting Names 36-Year-Old Superstar As The Greatest ODI Player Of All Time
Photo : ICC/X
Sachin Tendulkar is without a doubt one of the greatest batters of all time and one of the greatest ever to play the game. In ODI cricket he is the world record holder with the most number of runs in the format (18,426) in addition to scoring a massive 49 hundreds. However, according to another cricketing legend, Ricky Ponting, Sachin is not the greatest ever ODI player of all time. The Australian legend has recently given the moniker to one of the modern-day greats of the game, Virat Kohli, especially after his knock against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025.
In the India vs Pakistan match, Virat Kohli slammed his 82nd international ton and his 51st in ODIs. The superstar batter also became the fastest player to score 14,000 ODI runs. He also surpassed Ricky Ponting to become the third-highest run-scorer in the history of international cricket. Calling him the greatest player in the 50-over format, Ponting, in an interaction with ICC said that Kohli also has a chance to overtake Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar and become the all-time leading run scorer in international cricket.
"He's obviously been a champion player for a long, long time. And particularly in the white-ball formats, where he's been an unbelievably good 50-over player. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli. Now that he's gone past me and only two ahead of him, I'm sure he would want to give himself the best chance to be remembered as the all-time leading run scorer in the game.” Ponting said.
'Never Write Virat Kohli Off'
With 14,085 runs, Virat Kohli is the third-highest run-scorer in the history of ODIs. He is still 4,341 runs behind Tendulkar's all-time record. However, Ponting has said that Kohli's chances to cross Tendulkar can never be written off.
“It’s crazy when you think about it, isn’t it? Just how good Virat’s been over such a long period of time, yet he’s still 4,000 runs behind Sachin. It just goes to show how good Sachin was, but also his longevity in the game. But with someone like Virat, you never write him off. If the hunger's still there, then I’m never going to write him off.”
Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.
