Former India head coach Ravi Shastri picked four World Cup-winning stars in his list of the top five ODI cricketers of all time. But surprisingly, he didn’t mention Yuvraj Singh, who was the Player of the Tournament in the 2011 ODI World Cup and Gautam Gambhir, who also played a crucial role in the same tournament or Anil Kumble, who is India’s highest wicket-taker in the 50-over format of the game.
Ravi Shastri explained Bumrah's omission
Shastri, who was the coach of Kohli-led India during their maiden Test series win on Australian soil, also didn’t include Jasprit Bumrah but explained the reason behind omitting him.
Shastri believes that Virat Kohli is India's ODI cricketer of all time, and he is followed by Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. Notably, Rohit and Virat are the only players who are still representing India.
“I’ll go with Kohli, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma. And the only reason I’ve not put Bumrah there is because Bumrah has got another three or four years of cricket left," Shastri said on Thursday.
“You know, these players, they’re more or less coming to the fag end of their careers. They played over a decade, some over a decade and a half, so I would put… And it’s tough to pick. There are so many other good players there when you look back. But these stand out for me.
Why Ravi Shastri picked Rohit Sharma?
Shastri further explained why he added Rohit Sharma to the tally, even though he was not part of India's 2011 World Cup squad, because the batter smashed three double tons and over 11,000 runs in the format.
“They’ve been outstanding contributors. Two World Cup captains there, who won the World Cup as well. And barring Rohit Sharma, everyone in that list are World Cup winners. But you can’t take Rohit out of the mix with three double hundreds and over 11,000 runs. He’s number three in the list of run-getters. And all these on the given day are genuine match winners," he added.
Rohit and Virat are currently featuring in the three-match ODI series, where the Delhi-born cricketer got out on a duck in the first two ODIs and India's T20 World Cup 2024 winning captain scored 73 runs in the second ODI after getting cheaply dismissed in the first clash, scoring 8 runs.