Who has been India's best ODI batsman in 2018 - Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma?

The Indian cricket team have already played their last ODI of the year 2018. They will play their next ODI series in January 2018 against Australia.

India enjoyed a grand run in ODIs in 2018. They started their campaign against South Africa in South Africa, and went on to win two out of three bilateral ODI series they played in the year. They also triumphed at the Asia Cup 2018.

India played a total of 20 ODIs in 2018 and won 14 of them, while two matches ended in a tie.

In the batting department, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were exceptional in 2018. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were the star performers with the ball.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were the two big reasons behind India's success in ODIs in 2018. These two were the top two run scorers in ODIs in 2018, and it goes without saying that the Indian team is very fortunate to have them in the team.

The healthy personal competition between Rohit and Kohli was in full swing in 2018, as they kept trying to outdo each other. But who was better? Let us compare the ODI stats of these two in 2018 to decide who was India's best ODI batsman of 2018.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma against South Africa

The 'Hit-man' was in great form in limited overs cricket in 2018. But he did not start the year on a good note as he failed badly in Tests during the South African tour.

The story was no different in the first four matches of the ODI series as he got out early in all the four innings. But he bounced back in the 5th ODI and scored a well deserved century.

Overall, Rohit underperformed in the series against South Africa. But he was only just getting started.

In the next ODI series against England, Rohit scored a century in the very first match of the series. In the next two innings he got out cheaply though; he had started the series well but was unable to carry on his momentum throughout the series.

Rohit then led the Indian team in the Asia Cup in the absence of Kohli. His captaincy in the tournament was quite impressive, and India ended up winning the tournament.

Captaincy took his game to a different level as he scored consistently throughout the Asia Cup and ended it as the second highest run scorer. He racked up 317 runs at an excellent average of 105.66 from five matches.

Rohit continued his form in the home series against West Indies as well and scored two centuries. He was the second highest run scorer in this series as well, with 389 runs at an unbelievable average of 129.66.

Rohit was at his best in white-ball cricket throughout the year. He scored a total of 1030 runs at an average of 73.57 from 19 ODIs.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is ruling the cricket world at the moment, and has been just unstoppable in ODIs in 2018.

He started the year with a bang and scored a century in his very first ODI innings, against South Africa. His performance in the ODI series against South Africa was very impressive; he scored three centuries in six matches.

Kohli was the top run scorer of the series, scoring a total of 558 runs at an incredible average of 186.00 with 160* being his highest.

Virat Kohli

The next ODI series was against England. Kohli scored 191 runs in the three matches there. He notched up two 70s in the series but wasn't able to convert them into centuries.

Kohli was rested for the Asia Cup 2018 but he played the ODI series against West Indies at home. He scored three consecutive hundreds in the first three matches, becoming the first Indian to do so. Kohli ended up with 453 runs in the series and was the top run scorer by a mile.

It has been a great year for Kohli, to say the least. He slammed a total of 1202 runs at an excellent average of 136.56 from just 14 ODIs.

Kohli is the top run scorer for India in ODIs in 2018 despite missing the Asia Cup, and is currently No. 1 ranked ODI batsman in the world.

Conclusion

From the stats, it is clear that Kohli was better than Rohit in ODIs in 2018. Despite playing fewer matches, Kohli scored more runs than Hit-man; his consistency in 2018 was at another level.

Kohli took his game to a whole new in 2018. There is no doubt that he is currently the best batsman in the world, not only in ODIs but in all the three formats.