Former New Zealand pacer Tim Southee again certifies Indian batting legend Virat Kohli as the greatest of all time in the One Day International format. It is not the first time that the Kiwi star has expressed his admiration for the batter.
Tim Southee has made his recent comments on Virat through the Kolkata Knight Riders. Southee officially joined the franchise's coaching staff ahead of the TATA Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026). The New Zealand cricket legend represented the national cricket team for over a hundred Test matches, over 150 ODIs, and 120+ T20 Internationals.
“Virat Kohli is the best ODI player ever to play the game,” the former pacer, who claimed more than 700 international wickets across formats, reckoned as the greatest of all time in the ODI format.
During his stints with the New Zealand national cricket team, Southee went one-on-one against Virat Kohli multiple times, across the formats.
Kohli vs Southee H2H stats across formats
In Tests, the former seamer conceded 133 runs against the Indian batting maestro in 276 balls and dismissed him three times. Virat's batting average in Tests against Tim Southee is 44.3, which is good, as Southee was one of the best during his prime days.
In the ODIs, Southee dismissed Virat in 7 games, conceding 231 runs against 219 balls. The batter claimed the amount of runs for a strike rate over 105 and averaged 33.0. In the T20Is, Southee was slightly ahead of the top-order batter according to the stats. In the shortest format of the game, Virat Kohli’s batting average was only 22.00 as he got only 22 runs in total, facing 19 balls off Southee.
From the above-mentioned stats, it is clear that whenever these two legends faced each other, they delivered a well-fought contest between bat and ball.
Kohli, 37, only a few days ago, who claimed his second Indian Premier League title with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, showed no sign of aging. He was one of the driving forces who led Bengaluru to glory in back-to-back seasons. In the final, he remains not out to confirm the win against the Gujarat Titans in the final.
Virat is dealing with a hamstring injury
However, as per media reports, the star batter has been ruled out of the 3-match ODI series against Afghanistan because of a hamstring injury, which he might have received during the IPL 2026 final match. The severity of the injury is yet to be clear, but it is suspected that he could be sidelined for 6 weeks, which means Virat is now uncertain for the away ODI series against England as well.
So far, he has played 311 ODIs for India to score 14,797 runs with an average of 58.71. Throughout his ODI career, the Delhi-born has registered a staggering number of 54 centuries and 77 half-centuries.
Top 5 ODI Run-Scorers (Men's Cricket):
Sachin Tendulkar — 18,426 runsVirat Kohli — 1,4797 runsKumar Sangakkara — 14,234 runsRicky Ponting — 13,704 runsSanath Jayasuriya — 13,430 runsRead More: Virat Kohli ruled out of England ODIs? Official medical bulletin released
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