If two contemporary cricketers could be considered the greatest batsmen, especially in ODI cricket, then they would be Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Kohli is the artist, the one who oozes class when he is at his pristine best.
Rohit is the marauder, who catches bowling attacks by the scruff of the neck, and dismantles them with nonchalance.
These two men have already generated such incredible numbers, and carved a niche for themselves in the pantheon of ODI batting greats. Together, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have more than 20000 ODI runs and over 70 ODI hundreds.
But then, we are confronted with a very pivotal and pertinent question.
Who among the two Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma holds an edge over the other?
Kohli has an edge over Rohit Sharma
On the face of it, Kohli’s numbers in ODI cricket places him in a league of his own. He is already the second highest century maker in the ODI format of the game, the fastest batsman to the 10000 run mark, and is seen as the one man who has the chance of going past most of Sachin Tendulkar’s long standing records in the ODI format.
On the other hand, even though Sharma has three double centuries to his credit, his overall runs, hundreds and batting average are lesser than the Indian skipper.
But with that being said, let us now go ahead and look at the performances of these behemoths at home and away conditions in ODI cricket.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in home and away conditions
Rohit Sharma’s record in Home and Away conditions
| Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s | |
| HOME | 64 | 3528 | 63.00 | 11 | 15 |
| AWAY | 153 | 5587 | 43.31 | 18 | 28 |
Now, let us have a look at Virat Kohli
| Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s | |
| HOME | 95 | 4865 | 60.81 | 19 | 23 |
| AWAY | 147 | 7002 | 58.35 | 24 | 35 |
From the table, it can be seen that Kohli has a superior record over Rohit Sharma in both home and away ODI matches. He has scored more hundreds and more runs in away ODI’s than Rohit, and has also done it at a better average as compared to the Hitman.
World Cup: Bigger the stage, bigger the impact
Can anybody ever forget that whirlwind hundred by Adam Gilchist in the 2007 World Cup final? Can any Indian fan ever forget that iconic six that MS Dhoni hit to ‘finish things off in style’, on the night of April 2nd 2011?
The World Cup is the biggest stage in the game of cricket. It is the stage which provides a player a chance to be remembered for posterity. Now, as far as the World Cup in concerned, let us take a look at the performances of Kohli and Sharma.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in World Cup cricket
| Player Name | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
| Rohit Sharma | 17 | 978 | 65.20 | 6 | 3 |
| Virat Kohli | 26 | 1030 | 46.81 | 2 | 6 |
In World Cup cricket, Rohit Sharma outperforms Kohli in every single parameter. He has scored just 52 runs lesser than the Indian skipper despite playing a World Cup less. He averages almost 19 points higher than Kohli in World Cups, and has already scored a whopping 6 hundreds in World Cup cricket, as compared to just 2 by Kohli. Rohit also has more 50+ scores (9) as compared to Kohli (8), despite playing one World Cup less.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma: A better match winner
A hundred scored in a match won always carries an extra weightage to it, because every player ultimately gives his best to ensure that his side ends up winning the game. In this regard, let us look at how Kohli and Rohit have helped the team’s cause.
In the below table, let us look at how many of their hundreds have resulted in a win for the Indian side.
| Player Name | 100s | 100s in a winning cause | Percentage |
| Virat Kohli | 43 | 35 | 81.39% |
| Rohit Sharma | 29 | 22 | 75.86% |
From the table, we can see that Rohit and Kohli have incredibly high numbers of hundreds in a winning cause. However, Kohli edges Rohit in this parameter. A whopping 81.39% of his hundreds result in a victory for his side, as compared to Rohit, who has scored 75.86% of his hundreds in an ODI victory.
Advantage Kohli
It is indeed a fascinating exercise to do a deep dive into numbers and analyse the careers of great players. And, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been the pillars of the Indian batting line up for a decade now, and will go down in history as two of the greatest ODI batsmen of the modern era.
It is important to understand that both these legendary batsmen have been a nightmare for the bowlers and have won several games for the Indian side. They are still in the prime of their careers and have a long way to go before they walk into the sunset.
With that being said, it is advantage Kohli at the moment, but only by the thinnest of margins.
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