Former Australian captain Ian Chappell is believed to be one of the best analysts of the game currently and his opinions are seldom off the point. He believes that MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are the best in the world and that the calm of Dhoni during tricky run chases give him the nod as the best finisher the format has ever seen.
"The calm with which Dhoni brought to a conclusion both India's victories, at Adelaide Oval and the MCG, was yet another reminder of what a cool, calculating finisher he is in ODIs. He only has one challenger as the best finisher in the game - Australia's Michael Bevan - but Dhoni's remarkable longevity and frequency of success surely gain him the nod," Chappell wrote in his column.
As far as the debate over the best ODI batsmen to have ever played the game is concerned, Chappell believes that apart from Kohli the only other batsmen who can be counted in the same bracket include Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and AB de Villiers.
'Kohli is far superior to his competitors'
While Sachin's numbers in this format are unparalleled, Kohli's immense appetite for runs puts him way ahead of his competition in the contemporary times.
"Kohli is far superior to his competitors in completing a century just under every five and a half innings - a remarkable record of consistency. He is also well ahead of his competitors on average score and is second only to de Villiers in batting value (a combination of average score and strike rate). Both Kohli and de Villiers average well in excess of 50, which is a remarkable feat in a game where batsmen often tend to concede their wicket in pursuit of quick runs," Chappell opined.
The former Australian captain also drew parallels between Kohli and Richards as he believes both the players relied on conventional cricket rather than fancy strokes which leaves them less vulnerable in tricky situations.
"He (Kohli) eschews fancy shots and relies on a wide range of traditional strokes. He says this leaves him less prone to playing rash shots in Test cricket, which makes sense as an explanation," Chappell said.
Chappell believes that there is little doubt that Kohli will overtake Sachin's record of the number of centuries in ODI cricket with ease, but such has been prolific run of form that he could well be the Bradman of ODI batting in the times to come.
"If he even came close to achieving these amazing feats, there could be no argument: Kohli would be the Sir Donald Bradman of ODI batsmen," he signed off.
