IPL Founder Names Virat Kohli as the Greatest Ever Indian Player Over Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni

Virat Kohli won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy twice, and has also won a host of other major accolades, making him one of the greatest players ever.

IPL Founder Names Virat Kohli as the Greatest Ever Indian Player Over Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni

Lalit Modi picked Virat Kohli as the greatest India player, overlooking legends like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar. (via India Today)

In Short
  • Lalit Modi named Virat Kohli as India's greatest cricketer, overlooking Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.
  • Kohli is India's highest run-scorer in ODIs with 14,797 runs and 54 centuries.
  • He is currently playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2026, having scored 228 runs in five matches.

It appears that Virat Kohli has received recognition from a forgotten Indian cricketing figure. Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi identified the 37-year-old as India’s best player of all time, notably neglecting other cricketing icons such as Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.

Lalit Modi collaborated with former England captain Michael Vaughan, appearing on The Overlap Cricket podcast. He discussed a variety of things, including the decline of Test cricket, as well as the unresolved tension between the cricket boards of India and Pakistan. The 62-year-old also criticized modern leagues like England’s The Hundred, as well as the USA’s MLC, which he exclaimed are destined to fail miserably. 

He even talked about up-and-coming players, including the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, and the need to protect him from the pressures of modern cricket. Right towards the end of Modi’s conversation with Vaughan, the latter opted for a quickfire question.

He asked Modi who he feels is the greatest ever player for India. Without a second thought, Modi declared Virat Kohli the best. Despite Vaughan’s insistence that he take into account other greats, the former administrator upheld his selection.

Lalit Modi’s choice of Kohli is fully warranted, given the right-hander has been the torch-bearer of Indian cricket for the past decade. In terms of runs scored, he is India’s highest run-getter in ODIs. Across 311 matches in the format, Kohli has accumulated 14,797 runs at an average of 58.71, including 54 centuries and 77 half-centuries. He was also named the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Decade (2011-2020).

In making his choice, Modi disregarded several legends of the game as well. Vaughan had strongly suggested that he should have considered ‘Master-Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar, given that he is India’s all-time leading run-scorer across all three formats combined and is widely considered the most exceptional batsman of all time. Vaughan even named former captains MS Dhoni and Kapil Dev, both of whom have won the ODI World Cup.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is now busy playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2026, where he has already scored 228 runs in five matches at an average of 57 and a strike-rate of 158.33. Overall, the 37-year-old has scored over 8,800 runs in 272 matches in the IPL. 

IPL records Virat Kohli can break during RCB’s next clash against DC 

Virat Kohli has been in ecstatic form, and will next be seen in action when RCB take on DC at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The veteran batting icon had struggled with an injury during the match against MI, which even forced him to abstain from fielding. 

Virat Kohli RCB records
Virat Kohli might break several IPL records during RCB’s next match against DC. (via NDTV Sports)

So far, Kohli has recorded scores of 69(38), 28(18), 32(16), 50(38), and 49(34) in all five of RCB’s games. He will be looking to continue with his great form against DC, and he is just 68 runs away from becoming the first batter in the world to score 10,000 runs in T20 matches in a country. The 37-year-old has scored a total of 9,932 runs in 289 matches in the shortest format in India throughout his career. 

While third on the list of players with the most sixes in the IPL, Kohli, however, could become the first player in the tournament’s history to score 300 maximums for a single franchise. Moreover, he is also just 111 runs short of becoming the first player in the IPL to score 9,000 runs. Furthermore, Kohli might be the first player as well to hit 150+ sixes at a single IPL venue, at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. 

It remains to be seen how the batter fares against the DC, given that the RCB are among the high-flying sides this summer. RCB have won four out of the five matches that they have played so far, and are placed second on the table, level on points with RR.

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