Many people agree that one of the best names in ODI cricket batting history is AB de Villiers. Recently, he was asked to blindly rate the top 10 ODI batters of the twenty-first century—a task that is exceedingly simple to fail.

De Villiers gained attention when he appeared on Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali's "Beard Before Wicket" podcast. The two English players asked him to rate each batter from 1 to 10 without knowing who would bat next, with the stipulation that this was for the post-2000 version of the batters.

The first person on the list for AB de Villiers to rank was none other than Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar has the most runs, 18426 in 463 runs with 49 centuries, and was the first men’s cricketer to score a double century in ODIs.

De Villiers knew he was in trouble as the two England players put him in a tough spot, leading him to quip, “Here we go again; I see the headlines already. If I go 9, I’m in trouble.”

However, despite the 21st century only seeing him in his older years, there was still enough from the Master Blaster for de Villiers to confidently say, “Sachin, 4.”

With a giggle, De Villiers completed the remainder of his top 10, ranking Australian southpaw David Warner at number ten. This was not surprising considering their contentious history and their numerous run-ins over the 2010s.

With no objections from the podcast co-hosts, De Villiers put his compatriot Hashim Amla slightly below Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting just above him. However, he reserved number one for one man, placing Virat Kohli without hesitation. The only one who belonged was Kohli, with his century-long record-breaking efforts.

The South African gladly claimed the number two spot when it became available, which was a respectable ranking for a player with 25 ODI hundreds, an average of 53.50, and a strike rate higher than runs per ball.

Here is the video:

AB de Villiers’ full blind ranking of ODI batters post-2000

1. Virat Kohli

2. AB de Villiers

3. Ricky Ponting

4. Sachin Tendulkar

5. Hashim Amla

6. Rohit Sharma

7. MS Dhoni

8. Kumar Sangakkara

9. Babar Azam

10. David Warner