As the Champions Trophy 2025 approached, Virat Kohli was having trouble scoring runs. Against Bangladesh, he was cheaply removed in the opening game. Nonetheless, he exuded elegance throughout Sunday, February 23’s eagerly awaited India vs. Pakistan match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The iconic batsman helped India reach a 242-run total with six wickets and 7.3 overs remaining, scoring an undefeated century (100* off 111 balls) with seven boundaries. Notably, it was the first ODI century since the one he struck against New Zealand in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final and Kohli’s 51st ODI ton, setting a new record.

Michael Atherton noted that when it came to chasing in ODI cricket, no one was better than Kohli while talking about the former captain of India. Despite being a mainstay in all formats, the former England batsman praised Kohli’s incredible statistics and claimed that the 50-over game is possibly where he performs best.

Atherton stated on the “Sky Sports Podcast” that “there hasn’t been anybody better in the history of the game in a run-chase in 50-over cricket than Virat Kohli.”

The amount of fifty-one centuries is astounding. In one-day cricket, only Tendulkar and Sangakkara have scored more than 14,000 runs, and he did so with 51. He also got them in around 60 innings faster than Sachin, and I believe he did so about 90 innings faster than Kumara. I mean, his best is probably ODI. Although it’s obvious that he has excelled in all formats, he said, “You’d probably say that ODI is his absolute best format.”

Atherton’s opinion was supported by former England captain Nasser Hussain, who ranked Kohli higher than legendary cricketers Sachin and Sangakkara.

He has been an amazing player. “With those statistics you mentioned, I would have to say that he is probably the best player in ODI history,” Hussain added.

Tendulkar would be discussing the same thing with you. That would be AB de Villiers, Kumar. “He’s at the top of the tree,” he said, “though there have been some outstanding ones.

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