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Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma above Tendulkar! McGrath picks top 5 Indian ODI batters

Aakash Saini

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma [Source: AFP]Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma [Source: AFP]

Champion Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath has named Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma above his yesteryear rival Sachin Tendulkar on his list of India’s top five greatest ODI batters of all time. The former fast bowler cited Kohli and Rohit’s staggering stats in the modern-day game behind his decision.

Much to everyone’s surprise, McGrath excluded Virender Sehwag from his list, and named two certain middle-order batting icons.

McGrath picks Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni among 5 best IND batters

While speaking on The Fast Bowling Cartel podcast alongside fellow former Australian pacers Damien Fleming and Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath picked his five favourite Indian ODI batters of all time.

Justifying his selection of Virat Kohli at number one and legendary opening batter Rohit Sharma as second, McGrath said:

“My No. 2 (is) Rohit Sharma. His stats in one-day cricket and the way he played the game (is) unbelievable. Three double hundreds and the highest score of 264 is just unheard of. Unbelievable. 276 matches over 11,000 runs. Probably a little bit unfortunately earmarked as a one-day specialist, his stats at Test cricket should have been better because he was a class player. I would put him at No. 2, and at No. 1, it’s hard to go past Virat Kohli. You look at the runs he scored, the average, and the strike rate – unbelievable. We saw that the other night.”

Additionally, Glenn McGrath picked his yesteryear rival and ‘good friend’ Sachin Tendulkar as India’s third greatest ODI batter of all time. It is worth noting that both McGrath and Tendulkar scripted countless iconic moments together across all formats during their face-off days.

The legendary fast bowler and multi-World Cup winner further placed former Indian captain and wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni at number four. He capped off his top five Indian ODI batters list by naming former all-rounder and middle-order icon Yuvraj Singh.