No Rohit Sharma as Ravi Shastri picks top 5 greatest Indian cricketers of all time

The former Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri, has picked up the top five greatest Indian cricketers of all time during a podcast on ‘Stick to Cricket’ podcast, where he has left out some notable players, including Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly. He seemingly selected the players who had the biggest impact in the game with both bat and ball, besides their leadership skills, to change the face of Indian cricket.

The first name on the list of Shastri is the greatest batter of the game ever, Sachin Tendulkar. The Mumbai-born, who spent long years with Ravi in the domestic side and the international field, is the leading run-getter across formats with 34357 runs in 782 innings at an average of 48.52 and a strike rate of 67.58, thanks to 100 centuries and 164 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 248 runs for India. 

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The second player on the list is Virat Kohli. The right-handed batter, along with scoring runs and shouldering the responsibility of the side to change the red-ball team, is currently the country’s second-highest run-getter in international cricket. He has smashed 27599 runs in 617 innings at an average of 52.27 and a strike rate of nearly 80 with 82 centuries and 143 fifties.

Ravi Shastri denies Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly among top 5 greatest Indian cricketers of all time

The third player on the list of Ravi Shastri is MS Dhoni, who is the only captain to win three ICC trophies in all formats. With the bat, the Ranchi-born is the sixth leading run-getter across formats for India with 17092 runs in 523 innings at an average of 44.74 and a strike rate of 78.78, bagging 15 centuries and 108 fifties.

The fourth player on the list is the former captain and opening batter, Sunil Gavaskar. The Mumbai-born is ninth in the list with 13214 runs in 316 innings at an average of 46.20 and a strike rate of 48.25, with the help of 35 centuries and 72 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 236 runs.

The last man on the list is the former World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev. The Haryana all-rounder smacked 9031 runs at a strike rate of 86 in international cricket besides picking up 687 scalps at an average of 28.83.