Last Updated:
Since making his international debut in July 2008, the right-handed batter has played 543 matches and scored 27,324 runs with the help of 81 centuries and 141 fifties.
Hayley Matthews picks 36-year-old batter as greatest cricketer of 21st century. (Picture Credit: AFP, X/@BCCI)
West Indies women’s cricket team captain Hayley Matthews gave a special mention to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and AB de Villiers but picks Indian superstar Virat Kohli as the greatest cricketer of the 21st century. Since making his international debut for India against Sri Lanka during an ODI match in Dambulla on August 18, 2008, Kohli has scored 9230, 13906, and 4188 runs in 123 Tests, 295 ODIs, and 125 T20Is, respectively. He was India’s top performer in the ODI World Cup 2023 and also won the Player of the Match award in the 2024 T20 World Cup final.
During an ESPNCricinfo show, when Matthews, who earned a place in ICC Women’s ODI and T20I Team of the Year 2024 last week, was asked about the greatest cricketer of the last 25 years, she said, “25 years is a really wide area. Obviously I know a lot of them, like (Sachin) Tendulkar, the greats of the game. Certainly when I was growing up, he was one person that was like the best. Ricky Ponting was just my favourite player. I feel like in this day and age, two people that really stand out to me now are Ab de Villiers and just how good he was all around the ground as a batter and as a captain as well and then obviously Virat (Kohli). It’s so hard to look past him as an icon within the men’s game. So I am probably going to say Virat, just because he’s been probably my favourite player for the last few years, especially.”
And in women’s cricket, the West Indies star picked Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry as the greatest.
“In the women’s game, I think it’s kind of hard to look past Ellyse Perry and just everything she’s done over all the years, probably playing from back in like 2010 and stuff as well. I’d probably say she’s the best female cricketer of the last 25 years.”
Perry made her debut for Australia in 2007 during an ODI match played against New Zealand on July 22. In the last 18 years, the 34-year-old cricketer has played 13 Tests, 155 ODIs, and 165 T20Is for the Southern Stars and has scored more than 7000 runs in addition to dismissing over 300 batters.
