The Goat Of Cricket Finally Revelead With Facts !

In a competitive and famous sport like cricket, there will always be players competing to become the greatest of all time. Since cricket began in 1844 until 2024, there have been several top-class contenders standing in the queue for the title of GOAT (Greatest of All Time) player in cricket.

The cricket world has seen legendary players like Don Bradman, Sir Viv Richards, Kapil Dev, Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Ben Stokes, Virat Kohli, and Steven Smith. Often, fans argue between these players to decide the GOAT of cricket.

However, it would be completely senseless to declare one’s favorite player as the GOAT just because they like him.

Therefore, here we are going to draw a final conclusion on the topic of who is the GOAT of cricket by considering their stats, records, significant performances, and the conditions in which they played.

Table of Contents

Meaning Of GOAT in Cricket

In this Gen-Z era, cricket fans around the world have coined the term GOAT, which stands for Greatest of All Time. In cricket, it is used to refer to a player who has achieved phenomenal feats and gets the title of greatest player of all time, mostly used for batsmen.

How is a player determined to be a GOAT player?

In the true sense, a batsman who can dominate in any given condition in Test and ODI cricket should be called a GOAT player of cricket. You might ask, why not T20I in comparison? T20I cricket is primarily designed for revenue generation and entertainment purposes.

This does not mean it lacks skill; of course, it requires skill. However, playing in Test cricket and ODIs is more challenging than having the free license to smash every ball, as batsmen often do in the T20 format.

Therefore, one has to be the absolute best at least in 2 formats out of 3 in order to fall under the category of GOAT player of cricket.

The Battle Between Sachin And Kohli

Many cricket fans from England or Australia may not agree with the notion that, as of 2024, the battle for the title of the greatest of all time (GOAT) in cricket must be between Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

The Indian cricket icon, Sachin Tendulkar, played his last international match on November 16, 2013, and at that time, no one imagined any player could come close to his numerous records set before retiring.

However, Virat Kohli began to shine in international cricket from 2012-13, and now, in 2024, the majority of Indian fans compare him with Sachin Tendulkar.

Since Virat’s masterclass performances starting in 2013, a debate similar to football’s Ronaldo versus Messi rivalry now applies in cricket between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar regarding who is the goat of cricket.

GOAT OF ODI Cricket Between Sachin And Kohli

What’s the best way of finding a goat player of cricket then pulling the stats of both these legendary cricketers in One day international cricket.

Virat Kohli In ODI

So, Virat Kohli has played 290 ODI matches in which he got the chance to bat 280 times, scoring 13,848 runs with an average of 58.67 and a strike rate of 93.62.

Regarding milestones, Virat Kohli has achieved 50 centuries and 72 half-centuries out of 274 ODI matches as of June 2024.

Sachin Tendulkar In ODI

Coming to Sachin Paaji, the Master Blaster appeared in 463 ODI matches for the Indian cricket team, where he got the chance to bat 452 times, ending up as the highest run-scorer in ODIs with 18,426 runs and a remarkable batting average of 44.83.

Before the IND vs NZ match in the 2023 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar held the record for the most ODI hundreds. However, this record has now been taken by Virat Kohli, as Tendulkar made 49 centuries, and Kohli has already surpassed that mark. Sachin also has 96 fifties.

Conclusion from ODI Comparison of Kohli and Sachin

Virat Kohli is ahead of Sachin in terms of scoring centuries.

Kohli played almost half the matches Sachin did, yet he surpassed Tendulkar by having more ODI hundreds.

Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have a significant gap in terms of batting average, with Kohli leading in that aspect as well.

Sachin Tendulkar still has the most ODI runs, but the fact is, Sachin also played many more games than Kohli.

Clearly, Virat Kohli leads the debate of goat of ODI cricket against Sachin Tendulkar.

GOAT OF Test Cricket Between Kohli and Sachin

I would not hesitate to declare Virat Kohli as the GOAT of Test cricket as well, as he has played 40 percent fewer matches yet is quite close to what Sachin Tendulkar has achieved in his Test career.

Virat has played 113 Test matches, scoring 8,848 runs, which includes 29 hundreds and 30 fifties, whereas Sachin played 200 Test matches and made 15,291 runs, including 51 centuries and 68 half-centuries.

No doubt, in terms of stats, Sachin is ahead in Test cricket, but the fact is, Virat Kohli has played 87 fewer Test matches than Sachin. In that sense, Virat can be considered technically ahead in this race.

Conclusion of ODI And Test Comparison Of Kohli and Sachin

Sachin only played a single T20I game against South Africa, so it would not be fair to compare Sachin and Virat in the T20 format to determine the GOAT of cricket.

However, based on comparisons in ODIs and Tests, as of now, Virat Kohli is significantly ahead of Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli has outperformed him in both ODI and Test formats.

If Kohli manages to play until 2028, there is a decent chance that he might break the record for the most centuries in cricket and officially claim the title of the greatest cricket player of all time.

Goat of cricket according Brian Lara

During commentary, the legendary West Indian player of the 1990s, Brian Lara, was asked about who he considers the GOAT of cricket.

He mentioned some of the greatest cricketers from different eras such as Don Bradman, Gary Sobers, and Viv Richards.

However, he also expressed that in the modern-day era of cricket, it’s quite tough for him to choose between players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, etc.

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Dhruvv

Founder and Senior Content Writer at Cric Eye.

Contact me at : founder@criceye.com