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Former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has called Virat Kohli the ‘greatest white-ball cricketer’ in the history of the sport.
Virat Kohli was labeled as the greatest white-ball cricketer.
Sourav Ganguly called Virat Kohli ‘the greatest white-ball player the world has seen’ on Sunday. The former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president said Kohli was a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ cricketer whose recent Test form isn’t a worry for him, especially for the 50-over 2025 Champions Trophy.
Ganguly was speaking at an event in Kolkata in between India’s 3-1 loss in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and the upcoming five-T20I series against England. Kohli had a poor BGT as he scored an unbeaten 100 in the first Test but could only score 90 runs in the next four.
“Virat Kohli is a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer,” Ganguly said. “Like Jhulan (Goswami) and Mithali (Raj) are [for women’s cricket], in men’s cricket Virat Kohli is a once-in-a-lifetime player. To score 80 international centuries in a career is something unbelievable. For me, he’s probably the greatest white-ball player the world has seen.”
“I was really surprised by the way he batted after getting a hundred in Perth. He struggled before that here, but after that hundred in Perth, I thought it’d be a big series for him, but it happens. Every player in the world has his weaknesses and strengths. There’s no player in the world who won’t have that. It’s [about] how you adapt your weaknesses as you play great bowlers over a period of time.”
Kohli got out in near-identical fashion in each of his eight completed innings in the series — edging a ball outside the off-stump. However, it’s a kind of dismissal that is unlikely to bother him in white-ball cricket, where the pitches are flatter and the ball doesn’t have a seam pronounced enough for consistent seam and swing.
Ganguly said there was ‘a lot’ of cricket left in Kohli, but warned that India’s next Test series, a tour of England in June will be a ‘big challenge’ for him.
“I still believe there’s a lot of cricket left in Virat Kohli. The tour of England will be a big challenge for him. I am not too worried about his form in the Champions Trophy because like I said, he’s the best white-ball player the world has seen for a long time.”
Kohli will likely be back in action on February 6 in the first ODI against England.
