K Srikkanth blind ranks greatest Test batters of all time; places Virat Kohli higher than legends with over 13000 runs

Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth took part in a blind-ranking exercise, slotting ten of the game’s most celebrated batters into his personal all-time Test order (via his Instagram handle). The final list puts Sir Donald Bradman first and Joe Root 10th, with Virat Kohli seventh, above two men who scored more than 13,000 Test runs.

Bradman’s 99.94 average from 52 Tests is more than 40 runs higher than that of anyone else on the list, and his 29 hundreds came in 80 innings. Sir Garfield Sobers came in at second (8,032 runs at an average of 57.78), with Viv Richards at third (8,540 runs at an average of 50.23).

Sachin Tendulkar, the format’s leading run-scorer, with 15,921 runs at an average of 53.78, including 51 centuries, came in at No.4.

Srikkanth’s former opening partner, Sunil Gavaskar, took the fifth spot with 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12, while West Indian legend Brian Lara came in sixth with 11,953 runs at an average of 52.89. Lara also holds the world record for the highest single-innings Test score of 400.

Virat Kohli rounded off Srikkanth’s top seven with 9,230 Test runs at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries.

Kris Srikkanth’s final three spots went to Ashes legends

Kris Srikkanth included Ashes legends Greg Chappell, Ricky Ponting, and Joe Root as the bottom three in his blind ranking of all-time Test batters. Chappell, eighth, made 7,110 runs at 53.86 in 87 Tests with 24 hundreds, an average higher than Ponting’s and Lara’s over a shorter career.

Ponting, at No. 9, finished with 13,378 runs at 51.85 and 41 centuries, and sits third on the all-time run list behind Tendulkar and Root.

Root rounds off Srikkanth’s top-10 and is the only member still playing, with over 14,000 Test runs and 41 centuries.

Kris Srikkanth’s top-10 Test batters of all-time

1. Sir Donald Bradman
2. Sir Garfield Sobers
3. Viv Richards
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Sunil Gavaskar
6. Brian Lara
7. Virat Kohli
8. Greg Chappell
9. Ricky Ponting
10. Joe Root

Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran