Over the past year, as Virat Kohli has grown into another late peak in his career, the debate about the GOAT batsman has been reignited.
This has gained further weight as Virat Kohli has equaled Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries and is expected to smash his 50th ODI ton soon.
Many fans and even some former cricketers have hailed Kohli as the greatest ODI batsman of all-time, considering his exploits in the ODI format for the past 15 years.
When queried the question about the GOAT debate, Virat Kohli’s RCB captain and friend Faf du Plessis had an interesting answer.
Having played for a decade against Kohli, Faf du Plessis has been teaming on the side with the Indian superstar for the last two IPL seasons for their franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Virat Kohli is the greatest chaser of all time: Faf du Plessis
In a video for Star Sports ahead of the World Cup 2023 semi-finals, Faf du Plessis was asked a question from a fan whether Virat Kohli is the greatest batsman of all-time.
Thinking for a second, the former South Africa captain refrained from labeled Kohli the GOAT batsman, but he did opine that Kohli is the greatest run-chaser of all-time.
“Ummm. I would say Virat Kohli is the greatest chaser of all time. That for me is a fact. There are lots of batsmen that would fall into that category of potential greatest. But he definitely is the greatest chase of all time, for me,” du Plessis said.
Watch the video here:
There is a huge weight in Du Plessis’ opinion of Kohli being the best run-chaser. Kohli is the second-leading run-scorer in the ODI chases – he has 7794 runs in 152 innings, only behind Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 8720 runs in 232 innings, but Kohli’s average of 65 in run-chases is way ahead of Tendulkar’s 42.
27 of Kohli’s 49 ODI centuries came while batting second, and out of which 23 were in victories. For Tendulkar, he raised 17 ODI tons in run-chases, and 14 of them in wins. In victorious run-chases, Kohli is the all-time top-scorer in ODIs with 5786 runs, and his average of 90 in winning run-chases is simply beyond comparison with anyone.
