West Indies women team’s captain Hayley Matthews has picked Virat Kohli as the greatest male cricketer of the 21st century. Matthews also mentioned Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, and AB de Villiers as some of the greats of the game in the last 25 years.
Meanwhile, Kohli has been one of the consistent batters in the last 15 years. Kohli’s records in the white-ball game speak for itself and he is regarded as one of the best chasers in the ODI format.
But the former Indian captain’s red-ball form in the last five years hasn’t been great as he has managed only four centuries and he has been averaging around 30. Kohli could only manage 190 runs in five Test matches against Australia at an average of 23.75 and thus failed to deliver the goods.
Kohli has scored 9230, 13906, and 4188 runs in 123 Tests, 295 ODIs, and 125 T20Is, respectively.
Hayley Matthews said on ESPN Cricinfo, “25 years is a really wide area. Obviously I know a lot of them, like (Sachin) Tendulkar, the greats of the game. Certainly, when I was growing up, he was one person that was like the best. Ricky Ponting was just my favorite player. I feel like in this day and age, two people that really stand out to me now are Ab de Villiers and just how good he was all around the ground as a batter and as a captain as well and then obviously Virat (Kohli). It’s so hard to look past him as an icon within the men’s game. So I am probably going to say Virat, just because he’s been probably my favorite player for the last few years, especially.”
On the other hand, in women’s cricket, Matthews picked Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry as the greatest. Perry has scored 4187 runs in 155 WODIs at an average of 48.68 and 2109 runs in 165 WT20Is. The medium pacer has also picked 166 ODI wickets and 126 T20I scalps in her glorious career.
“In the women’s game, I think it’s kind of hard to look past Ellyse Perry and just everything she’s done over all the years, probably playing from back in like 2010 and stuff as well. I’d probably say she’s the best female cricketer of the last 25 years.”
Kohli will be seen in action in the upcoming three-match ODI series against England.
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