What’s the lore/reasoning behind this? I always thought it was 50, but you’re much older than me.
May not have the test numbers of Smith, Root, Williamson etc, but if I had to pick one to watch bat all day in their prime, it’d be Kohli. Absolutely box office when he was on.
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I think he is, but I have heard others say he isn’t (not on blitz but on online)
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I’ve always considered 50, but the time at which the player is active matters.
Kohli is 19th on the all time test runs list, a fine achievement.
Kohli was a very good player, but not one of the greats when you take his career as a whole. He also played in an era where batting is a little easier than in the past. As an example, there are 33 players who averaged 50 plus (minimum 50 innings). 17 of them played some portion of their career past 1/1/2000. 6 of them are still playing now.
Notably, only 2 players above Kohli on the all time list played pre 2000. The 2 players are Border 11,174 @ 50.56 & Gavaskar 1,122 @ 51.12.
In terms of Indian batsmen, he is probably 5th behind, Tendulkar, Dravid, Gavaskar & Sehwag in my books. A mighty fine player.
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Root is amazing to watch when he gets on his long batting, and, while Smith is unorthodox, when he is full flight he is astonishing to watch. I don’t think Kohli is any better to watch than those two.
The best ever to watch, for my time, was Brian Lara. Oh man was he sensational.
I can only imagine what watching Viv Richards was like in full flight, I only got the tail end of him.
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Best ODI bat ever without a doubt, not sure what his second innings average is but I remember it being pretty absurd.
Very good test bat, crazy how much that average fell though in the last few years
One thing that is probably worth considering with Kohli’s test record and the dip that occurred in the last 4-5 years is that he played his home tests on crumbling messes that were that way by design to back in their spinners but made scoring big runs borderline impossible. Not all their venues were like that 100% of the time but a lot of them certainly were.
Having said that, he didn’t shoot the lights out in away tests during that period either.
Ponting was a better 50 over ODI player especially when you factor in his fielding
His record in India was very impressive, averaged 55.6. He did very well in South Africa (891 @ 49.5) and Australia (1542 @ 46.7). Averaged 41.1 away from home, mostly due to being relatively weak in England - 33 innings for 1096 runs @ 33.2.
Interesting one. Tough argument to make purely on numbers. Kohli averages 57.9 @ 93.3 well above Ponting who averaged 42.0 @ 80.4. However, they played in different times. Kohli for mine.
In my time watching cricket. Lara in full flight was so damn enjoyable to watch. He had the flair, all the shots. A pure joy
Out of interest, what was his average at home in Indian tests from 2020 to 2025? I went looking for that but it all got to hard and I couldn’t see a website where I could break it down like that. Cos I feel like they took the crazy crumbling pitches up a notch around then.
Career averages
Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 0
unfiltered 2011-2025 123 210 13 9230 254*46.85 30 31 15
filtered 2021-2024 16 27 1 778 186 29.92 1 3 4
This is all Tests vs Tests in India in that timeframe (appear to be no tests in India in 2020 and none so far in 2025?).
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Because I’m bored at work, in India over the same period:
Smith: 4 tests @ 29 HS 38
Root: 9 tests @ 40.47 HS 218 two tons and a fifty.
Williamson: 1 test @ 24 HS 21.
Mendis hasn’t played in India yet.
I tend to agree with Lawry… even if the raw numbers don’t support it.
1 bloke took red ink in an era where his nation won next to no trophies of importance, the other was one of the most influential white ball players in history who won 3 World Cups on the trot, including 2 as captain.
Ponting also got MOM in a World Cup final with a big hundred (140 not out) 2003
Nice work! Yeah so even at home his average was under 30 in those last 4 years. How much of that was because of the pitches being slightly more insane than the years prior and how much of it can be put down to his natural decline is hard to say. Probably a mixture of both.
I don’t care about limited overs cricket but Kohli’s numbers are insane. He averaged better than a century every six ODI innings.
Unless someone can show his stats are Kane Williamson’d (minnow bashing, home town bully) he cannot be denied.
He is a tier above Ponting in ODI just as Smiff is a tier above Kohli in the real stuff.
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Great player across all formats but will be forever regarded as a ■■■■ for his shoulder charge on Konstas. No excuse.
He also clapped Smiff on his return from the ban when the indian crowd was booing him. The Konstas bump was a huge flog act, but I always remember the Smiff incident.
Also enjoyed him sh*tting on the South African broadcaster in the stump mic.
Two posts defending Kohli is more than enough now for me.
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Kohli is at the very least all time XI short form.
He’s not in the conversation for Tests.
And you know, maybe Smith, Root, Williamson aren’t either, but they’re a hell of a lot closer than Kohli.
Edit: and I really should be able to spell his name correctly.
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