Virat Kohli best batsman in history of ODI format: Ex-England captains

Former captains of the England cricket team hailed Virat Kohli as the best batsman in the history of the ODI format.

Acknowleding Kohli's formidable ODI statistics, ex-captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain hailed the batter's sportsmanship. 

Kohli played a master-class innings of unbeaten 100, his 51st century in ODIs, to steer India to a comfortable six-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a Champions Trophy match here on Sunday.

"Virat Kohli in a run-chase in 50-over cricket, there's been nobody better in the history of the game, really. 51 century is an unbelievable number," said the 56-year-old Atherton, who captained England in 54 Test matches, on 'Sky Sports Cricket Podcast'.

En route his century in his 299th 50-over appearance, Kohli became the fastest batter to reach 14,000 ODI runs, joining the elite group of Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 in 452 innings) and Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 in 380 innings).

"I mean, he's got 51 and he passed 14,000 runs, which only Tendulkar and Sangakkara have got past that mark in one-day cricket," Atherton continued.

"And he got them in 60-odd innings quicker than Sachin, and I think about 90-odd innings quicker than Kumar.

"So, I mean, ODI is probably his best. You know, he's been a great all-format player, clearly, but you'd probably say that ODI is his absolute best format." Echoing similar sentiments, Hussain, who led England between 1999 to 2003, remarked, "He's been an incredible player. Yeah, and you'd have to say probably the best player in ODIs of all time, really, with those stats you mentioned.

"You'd have Tendulkar in the same conversation. Kumar, you'd have AB de Villiers. They've been some great ones, but he's right at the top of the tree."