India former head coach, Ravi Shastri, not long ago, gave out his top five Indian-ODI players of all times during the second ODI between India and Australia at Adelaide. As a player, coach, and commentator, Shastri has been able to experience the Indian cricket journey, and as a result, she has chosen the legends to make the team successful in the 50-over format.
His list also featured Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Kapil Dev, and MS Dhoni -players who have contributed significantly to some of the major wins of India. According to Shastri, they all had something to contribute to the team as Kapil with his all-round brilliance to Dhoni with his leadership and Tendulkar with his unparalleled consistency.
“Yeah, I’ll go with Kohli, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma. You know, these players, you know, more or less coming to the fag end of their careers. They played for over a decade, some for over a decade and a half. You know, so I would put, and it’s tough to pick. There are so many other good players there, you know, when you look back. But these stand out for me. You know, they’ve been outstanding contributors to World Cup captains there, you know, who won the World Cup as well. And, you know, barring Rohit Sharma, everyone in that list is are World Cup winner. But, you know, you can’t take Rohit out of the mix with three double hundreds, over 11,000 runs. He’s number three in the list of run-getters. And all these, on their given day, are genuine match winners,” he said.
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Ravi Shastri shares his top 5 Indian ODI players. Do you agree? 🤔👀
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It is important to note that Tendulkar remains the all-time leader in the ODI history, with 18,426 runs, 51 hundreds and is considered the best run-scorer in the history of ODIs. The leadership and all-around performance of Kapil Dev in 1983 changed the way Indian cricket took its direction. The leadership and finishing skills of MS Dhoni enabled India to emerge as the winner of the world cup in 2011. In the meantime, Rohit Sharma already has three centuries and over 11,000 runs and is among the most dangerous openers in the format. Shastri further indicated that he omitted Jasprit Bumrah on the basis of the minimal playing time of the pacer.
“And the only reason I’ve not put Bumrah there, that Bumrah has got another three, four years of cricket left,” he added.
