India, Dec. 1 -- Virat Kohli's 52nd ODI hundred in Ranchi - a serene 135 off 120 balls against South Africa - has pushed his one-day record into territory no one has seen before. With 14,390 runs at an average of 58.02 in 306 ODIs, plus the outright world record for ODI centuries, the statistical argument for calling him the greatest ODI batter ever looks almost open and shut.

But greatness in cricket is never just a scorecard question. Sachin Tendulkar's 18,426 ODI runs at an average of 44.83, his 49 Hundreds, and the fact that he built that mountain across the 1990s and 2000s - an era before T20, before flat white-ball pitches became the norm - keep the Kohli vs Sachin debate alive. A deep dive into context, support cast, bowling quali...