Virat Kohli OUT!! 2 Indians Included!! Matthew Hayden's all-time World XI revealed
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Virat Kohli is truly the legend of the game of cricket. The star batter has scored runs all over the world in all the formats. But there is one format where his performances have hardly been criticized and he always enjoys playing that format.
It is the ODI format. Kohli is probably the King of ODIs and knows exactly how to pace his innings in the format. He has already scored close to 14000 runs in the format and looks set to score more. Despite his outstanding record in ODIs, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden decided to not include him in the all-time ODI World Cup XI.
Matthew Hayden selects All-time ODI World Cup XI
Recently, a renowned Pakistani journalist shared an image of Matthew Hayden's all-time World Cup XI and clearly mentioned that the former opener has left out Virat Kohli from the list. The XI was as follows:
Adam Gilchrist (wk), Virender Sehwag, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath
"No Virat Kohli in Mathew Hayden All time ODI World Cup XI 🙄🙄," the journalist posted on X (formerly Twitter).
No Virat Kohli in Mathew Hayden All time ODI World Cup XI 🙄🙄 p<!---->i<!---->c<!---->.<!---->t<!---->w<!---->i<!---->t<!---->t<!---->e<!---->r<!---->.<!---->c<!---->o<!---->m<!---->/<!---->5<!---->8<!---->j<!---->L<!---->X<!---->m<!---->0<!---->b<!---->8<!---->i
— ٰImran Siddique (@imransiddique89) J<!---->u<!---->l<!---->y<!----> <!---->3<!---->1<!---->,<!----> <!---->2<!---->0<!---->2<!---->4
Here's why Matthew Hayden was correct in not selecting Virat Kohli in his All-time ODI World Cup XI
The reason why Hayden did not select Kohli in this list is because he made this prediction way back in 2014 before the ODI World Cup 2015. At that time, Kohli was just starting to establish himself as a legendary batter.
During that time, Virat Kohli had played just one ODI World Cup (in 2011), in which he scored 282 runs in nine matches with one century to his name. He wasn't the great batter at that time as he is now.
As a result, Hayden's prediction cannot be doubted as he chose the right Playing XI of that era. India went on to win the World Cup, which was their first ODI World Cup in 28 years.
Virat Kohli record in ODI format
A lot has changed since as Kohli has established himself as one of the greats to have ever played the game. His record in every format is phenomenal as he averages close to 50 in every format.
Virat Kohli has scored 13848 runs in 292 ODIs at a blistering average of 58.47 and a strike rate of 93.58. He has already struck 50 hundreds in the ODI format, with his 50th century coming in the ODI World Cup 2023 semi-final match against New Zealand.
Kohli has been outstanding in the ODI World Cups as well. He is second on the list of highest run-scorers in the 50-over World Cups, just behind Sachin Tendulkar, who tops the list with 2278 runs in 45 matches. On the other hand, Kohli has scored 1795 runs in 37 ODIs at an average of 59.83 and a strike rate of 88.20. He has struck five centuries and 12 half-centuries in the ODI World Cup history.
The 35-year-old was the highest run-getter of the 2023 ODI World Cup with a mammoth 765 runs from 11 innings at an average of 95.62 and a strike rate of 90.31. Kohli has scored 3 hundreds and 6 fifties in ODI World Cups so far and is likely to score more in the 2027 World Cup.
