Legendary Australian pacer picks top 5 Indian ODI batters of all-time amid AUS vs IND 2025 series; leaves out Sachin Tendulkar

Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie picked his top five Indian ODI batters of all-time after the conclusion of the Australia-India three-match ODI series (On the Fast Bowling Cartel YouTube channel). Gillespie made the surprising call of excluding former right-hander Sachin Tendulkar from the top five, mentioning him as No. 6 on his list.

Tendulkar is ODI cricket's all-time leading run-scorer with 18,426 runs and second all-time in ODI centuries with 49. Meanwhile, Gillespie's top five began with former opener Shikhar Dhawan at fifth place, thanks to an excellent combination of average and strike rate.

Dhawan is India's 10th leading ODI run-scorer with 6,793 runs at an average of over 44 and a strike rate of 91.35 in 167 games. The former pacer went with legendary skipper MS Dhoni at No. 4, thanks to his finishing exploits.

Dhoni is one of only six Indian batters to score over 10,000 runs in ODIs and finished with an excellent average of over 50 and a strike rate of 87.23. Dashing opener Virender Sehwag came in at No. 3 on Gillespie's list, thanks to his phenomenal strike rate of over 104 in 241 ODIs.

Sehwag is the only Indian batter to boast a 100+ ODI strike rate while scoring over 7,000 runs. Gillespie picked former skipper Rohit Sharma at No. 2 and Rohit's teammate Virat Kohli as the best Indian ODI batter of all time. Rohit is the only batter in ODI history to score three double-centuries and boasts an impressive ODI record with 11,370 runs at an average of 49.22 and a strike rate of 92.66.

Meanwhile, Kohli is the second leading run-scorer in ODI history with 14,255 runs at an average of 57.71 and a strike rate of 93.25 in 305 outings. He is also the all-time leader in ODI centuries with 51.

Jason Gillespie's top 5 Indian ODI batters of all-time

1. Virat Kohli
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Virender Sehwag
4. MS Dhoni
5. Shikhar Dhawan

Glenn McGrath includes Sachin Tendulkar in his top 5 Indian ODI batters of all-time

Jason Gillespie's former fast-bowling partner, Glenn McGrath, also picked his top five Indian ODI batters of all-time. Like Gillespie, McGrath had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as his top two in that order.

However, McGrath picked Sachin Tendulkar at No. 3 in his list, followed by MS Dhoni at No. 4. Tendulkar was India's leading run-scorer in their 2011 ODI World Cup triumph at home, with Dhoni leading the side.

McGrath picked the Player of the Tournament of the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh, as the final name on his top five list. Yuvraj finished his ODI career with 8,609 runs at an average of 36.47 and a strike rate of 87.43 in 301 games.

Glenn McGrath's top 5 Indian ODI batters of all-time

1. Virat Kohli
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. MS Dhoni
5. Yuvraj Singh