Top five batsmen with fewest ODI innings per 100

With the advent of T20 cricket, pitches have been getting generally flattened around the world. Due to this, one day cricket has gone a plethora of changes that have resulted in modern players scoring hundreds at a higher frequency than their predecessors.

One of the basic tenets of batsmanship is the ability to build on a start once a batsman gets in. However, truth be told, it is far from simple. It is this basic trait that separates a 'good' batsman from a 'great' one.

Virat Kohli, en-route to his 34th hundred epitomized the said principal to its hilt, as he provided an absolute masterclass in building his innings, especially after Shikhar Dhawan had needlessly thrown his wicket when he looked well on course to a hundred.

Today, let us look at the best conversion rates by batsmen with a minimum of eight hundreds.

#5 Shikhar Dhawan (8.17 innings per 100)

Career Stats: Matches: 99 Innings: 98 Runs: 4200 Avg: 45.65 50s/100s: 25/12 S/R: 93.22

Shikhar Dhawan has been one of the key performers for India at the top of the order ever since he made his comeback to the team at the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Dhawan made his debut back in 2010, only to lose it to the then incumbent Virender Sehwag.

He, however, made an outstanding comeback into the ODI team three years later, accumulating 380 runs in the Champions Trophy, which included two back to back centuries against South Africa and West Indies.

Dhawan has scored 10 more centuries since then, making it twelve in 98 innings at a healthy average of 45.65. This means that he scores a hundred every 8.17 innings. Dhawan's astounding conversion rate at the top has been a key pedestal in India's rise as a top-ranked limited overs side in the world, and it will hold the same when they go to England next year for the World Cup.

#4 David Warner (7.43 innings per hundred)

Career Stats: Matches: 106 Innings: 104 Runs: 4343 Avg: 43.0 50s/100s: 17/14 S/R: 96.55

The pocket-sized dynamo, as he is fondly called by the cricketing folklore, was the first cricketer since 1877 to make a debut for Australia without having played any first-class cricket. He made an instant impact in his T20I debut against the Proteas with a breathtaking knock of 89 off 43 balls. Following his blitz, he was handed the ODI debut against the same opposition on 18 January 2009.

An aggressive 69 in the second ODI affirmed Warner's raw talent, however, a string of indifferent scores ensued, and he was dropped from the side. Warner made his comeback in 2011, and after his altercation with Joe Root during the 2013 Champions Trophy, has since been a regular opener for the Aussies in all formats.

He was also the second highest run-scorer for the Aussies in the 2015 World Cup, smashing 345 runs in eight games. In 104 innings till date, Warner has amassed 4343 runs with 14 hundreds to his name. Warner scores a hundred every 7.43 innings and his indifferent form lately has further epitomized the value he brings to Australia's limited overs set-up.

3) Quinton de Kock (6.92 innings per hundred)

Career Stats: Matches: 90 Innings: 90 Runs: 3860 Avg: 45.41 50s/100s: 15/13 S/R: 93.99

Following his good form in domestic cricket, Quinton de Kock found himself in South African colors in the 2012-13 season and has since been a consistent member of the team across all formats.

Quinton de Kock made his ODI debut against New Zealand in January 2013, but his Magnum opus truly arrived when he became only the fourth batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score three consecutive centuries in India's tour of the rainbow nation in December 2013.

H also went on to better Hashim Amla's record of accumulating 12 ODI hundreds in 81 innings, a feat he accomplished in his 74th ODI against Sri Lanka. In his 88 match career, de Kock has scored 3806 runs, glittered with thirteen hundreds. He has scored a century every 6.92 innings.

Unfortunately, his miserable form currently has been one of the pivotal reasons as to why the Proteas are struggling against India.

#2 Hashim Amla (6.04 innings per hundred)

Career Stats: Matches: 161 Innings: 158 Runs: 7421 Avg: 50.48 50s/100s: 34/26 S/R: 89.14

Hashim Amla, one of the modern greats across formats powers his way to our list at number 2.

Earmarked as a prodigious talent, Amla led South Africa in the 2002 U-19 World Cup and was handed his Test debut two years later against India in 2004/05. Despite him establishing his credentials as a Test batsman with a glittering 149 against New Zealand and an outstanding tour of India in 2010, where he compiled a barely believable 490 runs in three innings, there were constant apprehensions about his prowess as a limited-overs batsman.

Amla quickly dispelled those apprehensions with a 102 and 92 in two matches of the five-match series against the West Indies, establishing his might as a prolific limited overs accumulator.

Amla, en route to 7421 ODI runs, also became the fastest to reach each of 1000,2000,3000,4000,5000,6000, and 7000 runs ODI runs. This is a testament to his astonishing levels of consistency. Amla's 26 ODI hundreds (a hundred every 6.04 innings) is also a testimony of his insatiable love for long innings, designating him as a modern day master.

#1 Virat Kohli (5.79 innings per hundred)

Career Stats: Matches: 205 Innings: 197 Runs: 9348 Avg: 57.35 50s/100s: 45/34 S/R: 91.9

The only middle order batsman to feature in this list is India's skipper and probably the greatest chaser in the history of ODI cricket - Virat Kohli.

With 34 hundreds in 194 innings, Kohli is head and shoulders ahead of his contemporaries. He made his debut as an opener in 2008 against Sri Lanka but it was only in the December of 2009 that he gave a glimpse of his greatness, when he scored his debut hundred in a run chase against Sri Lanka. A slew of consistent performances earned him a spot in the star-studded middle order in the 2011 World Cup, which India ended up winning.

He took his game to a different level post 2011 with an increasing emphasis on fitness. The results were there to be seen as he amassed a barely believable hundred (133) in Hobart against Sri Lanka and 183 versus Pakistan free months later.

The legend of Kohli is essentially built on his immaculate game sense and playing risk-free conventional cricket by ruining many 1s and 2s, which is a testimony to his supreme fitness. He hits a hundred every 5.79 innings, way ahead of his idol Sachin Tendulkar who scored a hundred every 9.22 innings.

Kohli also has the highest ODI rating points (889) ever achieved by a batsman. With the form he is displaying currently in South Africa (two hundreds in three games), a country where he hadn't previously scored a hundred, a plethora of records will be up for grabs to be either made or broken in the coming days.