Ravi Shastri names his top five Indian ODI cricketers of all time

Former India coach Ravi Shastri reveals his definitive list of India's five greatest ODI players of all time. Find out why Virat Kohli tops the star-studded line-up, which also includes Tendulkar, Dhoni, Kapil Dev, and Rohit Sharma, and his reason for excluding a modern-day pacer.

25 Oct 2025 12:04 IST

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Former Indian head coach and cricket analyst Ravi Shastri unveiled his ranking of the greatest five Indian One Day International (ODI) players of all time during the innings break of Australia vs. India's second ODI at Adelaide Oval. His choice sparked considerable debate and highlighted the vast talent India has produced over the years.

He ranked Sachin Tendulkar as number two and Virat Kohli as India's all-time top player. In his ranking, they were followed by Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma came in at number five. Jasprit Bumrah, considered the best Indian pacer of all time, was one prominent figure that Shastri left off his list. Regarding his exclusion, Ravi Shastri stated that the top pacer's presence on the list is due to the fact that he still has a lot of cricket left in him.

"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. 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.

“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," said Shastri in an interaction with FOX Cricket.

In addition to the two World Cup-winning captains, Kapil and Dhoni, Shastri's list features India's top three run scorers in ODI cricket, Sachin, Virat, and Rohit.

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