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Former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary has shared his choices for the greatest players and moments in ODI cricket. He also named the best ODI Indian team, with Virat Kohli dominating his choices.
Kohli is currently on the break, and he is expected to return to action with the upcoming ODI series in England after missing the Afghanistan series due to a minor hamstring issue that he picked up during the IPL 2026. It is being said that the former Indian captain passed the fitness test at NCA earlier this week.
Manoj Tiwary names Virat Kohli as Greatest ODI Batter Ever
Well, Manoj Tiwary has dubbed Virat Kohli the greatest ODI batter the game has ever seen, overlooking two of the greatest batters, Sachin Tendulkar and Hitman Rohit Sharma. He believes Kohli’s ability to score runs consistently and finish difficult chases for India puts him above all.
Over the years, Kohli has won several matches while chasing. The dashing right-hander has already scored 14,797 runs in 299 innings at an average of 58.72 and strike rate of 93.82.
Manoj Tiwary was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz: “It has to be Virat Kohli because of his sheer run-scoring ability and also the tag of the chase master. We know why it has been given to him because of the number of matches he has won while chasing.”
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar placed in same elite group
When asked about the best Indian ODI batter, Tiwary picked Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Tendulkar in the same bracket, saying all three have achieved incredible success and scored mountains of runs for the country. While Tendulkar finished his career with 18426 runs, Rohit has 11720 runs to his name in ODIs till now.
The former KKR batter then picked Zaheer Khan as the greatest ODI bowler. The former fast bowler played a key role in India’s 2011 World Cup-winning campaign and was one of the biggest match-winners of his generation.
Yuvraj Singh picked as the Best ODI All-Rounder
Tiwary then picked the legendary Yuvraj Singh as the best ODI all-rounder. He scored 8701 runs and took 111 wickets in over 300 ODI matches for India. Additionally, Yuvraj had won four Player of the Match awards during the 2011 World Cup and finished with 362 runs and 15 wickets.
Tiwary said, “He was Player of the Tournament in the 2011 ODI World Cup, where he contributed immensely with his batting and bowling, and everyone remembers him.”
No team better than MS Dhoni’s 2011 Champions: Manoj Tiwary
The cricket pundit also rated India’s 2011 World Cup-winning side as the greatest ODI side. That squad had world-class players in every department like Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Kohli, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj, Suresh Raina, and Zaheer.
Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, and Piyush Chawla were also part of the team. Tiwary said, “In 2011, the Indian team dominated and won the World Cup, and, in my opinion, that was the best ODI team.”
At the end, Tiwary selected the famous Australia vs South Africa game from 2006, where South Africa pulled off a record chase of 434 runs. He also picked the dramatic Australia-South Africa World Cup semi-final in 1999 as the most memorable ODI moment in cricket history.