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Venkatesh Prasad named his top-five Indian cricketers, and excluded Kohli, Rohit, Dhoni and Bumrah.
Rohit Sharma (L) and Virat Kohli.
Former India selector and coach Venkatesh Prasad named his top-five Indian cricketers on Sunday and none of the modern-day greats Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni or Jasprit Bumrah got a mention.
Prasad revealed his five favorites in an ask-me-anything or AMA session on X (formerly Twitter). Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, and Anil Kumble made his top four while he put Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Gundappa Vishwanath jointly at number five.
Answering another question, Prasad named Kohli and Bumrah among the modern-day greats.
Then, he was also asked his favorite players in each format. He named Australia’s Travis Head for Tests, South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen for T20s and Kohli for ODIs.
Another user asked him who was the most exciting cricketer to watch currently and Venkatesh again named Head.
Venkatesh, who has also coached India at the highest level, played 33 Tests and 161 ODIs for India. He represented Karnataka in 123 First Class matches.
Kohli, Rohit in line to play more Ranji Trophy matches, Bumrah on break
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit was recently seen in action for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy against Jammu and Kashmir.
Kohli missed that round’s match for Delhi due to a neck injury, but is expected to be feature in Delhi’s match against Railways which begins on January 30. It’ll be Kohli’s first match back in the tournament since 2012.
Bumrah, on the other hand, has been advised rest in his rehabilitation since suffering a serious back injury during the 2024-25 Border Gavaksar Trophy earlier this month. He’s likely to return for the final match of the ongoing India-England series, an ODI on February 12.
Dhoni is the only Indian mentioned in the above posts to have retired from international cricket but still around. He’ll be seen in action for the Chennai Super Kings in the upcoming IPL 2025.
