Travis Head Labels Virat Kohli as the “Greatest White-Ball Player” in Cricket History

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be aiming to be at their best in the three ODIs against Australia, having made no clear indication about their future.

Travis Head Labels Virat Kohli as the “Greatest White-Ball Player” in Cricket History

Travis Head labeled Virat Kohli as the 'greatest white-ball player' of all time. (via India Today)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Australian opener Travis Head made a stunning admission about Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli, calling him the ‘greatest white-ball player’ of all time. Head also went to heap praise on ex-India captain Rohit Sharma’s brilliance in the 50-over format. 

The much-awaited white-ball series between India and Australia will be all the more important, as it marks Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s return to the Team India setup after having remained out of action for the last seven months. The iconic duo last played for the Men in Blue in the 2025 Champions Trophy final, before calling time on their Test careers, delaying Sharma and Kohli’s return to the national side.

Having already retired from both T20Is and Tests, rumors are rife that the white-ball tour to Australia might be the duo’s final outing with the Men in Blue, with the Indian team management aiming for a full-transition across all the three formats.

Shubman Gill’s appointment as India’s new ODI captain has added fuel to the speculation. Australian opener Travis Head most recently, speaking about a potential farewell for the duo, at a pre-match interaction with reporters, alongside Axar Patel.

Head went on to lavish praise on Kohli and Sharma, suggesting that the duo have been outstanding for India over the past decade. The 31-year-old then labeled Kohli as the ‘greatest white-ball player’ of all time, while also adding that Sharma is not very far behind in terms of his batting abilities. He further stated that the duo should continue playing until 2027, hopefully making it to the ODI World Cup. 

They [Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma] have been awesome for India. Virat is probably the greatest white-ball player. Rohit is probably not far behind… I am sure they will be missed at some stage, but I think they both are going until 2027.

The Australian opener’s high regard for Virat Kohli stems from the 36-year-old’s impressive numbers in white-ball cricket. In 302 ODIs so far, Kohli has scored an astonishing 14,181 runs at an average of 57.88, hitting 51 hundreds and 74 fifties. He is just 55 runs away from becoming the all-time second highest run-getter in the format, internationally, which will put him behind countryman Sachin Tendulkar‘s record.

Meanwhile, Travis Head’s comments seem all the more interesting, given the fact that he had himself shattered Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s dream of winning the 2023 ODI World Cup. The 31-year-old had scored a match-winning 137 runs off 120 balls for the Aussies, in the final against India.

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to Spearhead Batting: Predicted XI for 1st ODI Against Australia

The Men in Blue will face Australia in the first ODI of the much-anticipated three-match series in Perth, on October 19. Shubman Gill’s appointment as India’s new One-Day captain means that the 26-year-old will play a crucial role in spearheading the batting unit as well. 

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will play an important role in the three ODIs against Australia. (via Hindustan Times)

India comes into the tour with a full-strength squad, with Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya being the very few big names to miss out due to injury or workload management. Ace spinner Varun Chakravarthy is the other notable absentee, as he has not been picked in the squad as the conditions in pace-friendly Australia only allow for one or two spinners in the playing XI.

Coming to India’s predicted XI the series opener, Rohit Sharma is set to retain his place as an opener, alongside Gill. Virat Kohli is expected to come out to bat at no. 3, followed by Shreyas Iyer at no. 4, KL Rahul at no. 5, and Nitish Kumar Reddy and Axar Patel as the two all-rounders. In bowling, Kuldeep Yadav will join three front-line pacers; Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep Singh.

Meanwhile, Australia’s playing XI for the first match could feature Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh as openers, followed by Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Phillipe, Matthew Short, and Mitchell Owen. In bowling, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ellis might start.

Read More: