Virat Kohli Called The ‘Best 50-Over Player’ Ever By Ricky Ponting After Completing 14,000 ODI Runs; Watch

Virat Kohli climbed one more step in his legacy as an ODI player, as he leapfrogged Ricky Ponting to become the 3^rd highest run-getter in the format after completing his 14,000^th ODI runs. He achieved this feat during his 100* against Pakistan in Dubai in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Virat Kohli scored his 82nd international century and 51st in one-day internationals against Pakistan. The great batsman also became the fastest player to reach 14,000 ODI runs. He also eclipsed Ricky Ponting as the third-highest run scorer in international cricket history.

Sachin Tendulkar is unquestionably one of the best batters of all time, as well as one of the finest players in the history of cricket. In ODI cricket, he holds the world record for the most runs scored (18,426), as well as 49 hundreds. However, another cricket star, Ricky Ponting, believes Sachin is not the best ODI player of all time.

“Unbelievably good 50-over player”- Ricky Ponting on Virat Kohli’s record in ODIs

The Australian icon recently gave the nickname to one of the game's modern-day greats, Virat Kohli, following his victory against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025.

"He's obviously been a champion player for a long, long time. And particularly in the white-ball formats, where he's been an unbelievably good 50-over player. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli. Now that he's gone past me and only two ahead of him, I'm sure he would want to give himself the best chance to be remembered as the all-time leading run scorer in the game.” Ponting said to Sanjana Ganesan for ICC.

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Also Read: Virat Kohli Interrogates About His Future By Gautam Gambhir

Never Write Virat Kohli Off'- Ricky Ponting

Virat Kohli is the third-best run scorer in ODI history, with 14,085 runs. He is still 4,341 runs behind Tendulkar's all-time score. However, Ponting has stated that Kohli's prospects of surpassing Tendulkar should never be discounted.

Ponting told the ICC that Kohli has a chance to surpass Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar as the all-time highest run scorers in international cricket.

“It’s crazy when you think about it, isn’t it? Just how good Virat’s been over such a long period of time, yet he’s still 4,000 runs behind Sachin. It just goes to show how good Sachin was, but also his longevity in the game. But with someone like Virat, you never write him off. If the hunger's still there, then I’m never going to write him off,” he stated.

Virat Kohli will be in action on March 2 when India takes on New Zealand in the final of the Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai.