The 10 greatest one-day batsmen of all time: Can declining Virat Kohli beat Sachin Tendulkar to No 1? Which Englishman makes our definitive list? And which India legend can't crack the top 10?

On current form, Virat Kohli doesn’t look long for this parish - his latest effort of five against England in Cuttack this week doing nothing to dispel the theory that he is now playing from memory. How long he continues as an international batsman will more than likely come down to the decision of the 36-year-old himself. Let’s face it, dropping him is akin to heresy in India. India’s selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar, have resisted intervening thus far despite a long-term decline in Test cricket that has seen him dismissed for 17 or fewer in 11 of his past 13 innings.

Kohli’s slump is not necessarily format-specific either, and comes at a time when futuristic white-ball players are sprouting up all over the subcontinent. Although their former captain remains at the heart of India’s attempts to win the Champions Trophy next month, he has been too good a player to continue as a passenger. The next 50-over World Cup is still the best part of two years away and so, if one of the game’s all-time greats is nearing his end and this is to be his final major tournament, how does he compare to those that have gone before?.

In descending order, Mail Sport selects the 10 best one-day batsmen of all time. It's a very tough list to crack - there's no room for Rohit Sharma's 32 hundreds and world-record individual high score of 264, for starters - but who comes out as the definitive No 1?. Virat Kohli has been declining in all formats - but only he will decide when he should retire. Kohli made five against England in Cuttack this week as part of a long-term struggle for form.

But do Kohli's exploits still secure him top spot in our definitive list of the best ODI batters?. 10. SANATH JAYASURIYA. Having pogoed around the batting order during his first 55 one-day appearances, a permanent switch to opener in 1994, following an unremarkable trial run the previous year, revolutionised not only Sri Lanka’s cricket but the format itself. Jayasuriya's brutal assaults against the new ball had debilitating effects on opponents. During Sri Lanka’s show-stopping 1996 World Cup win, his man-of-the-match blitzes left India and England in states of paralysis. Faced with much reduced asking rates, team-mates then toddled over the finish line.

Under his captaincy, the Sri Lankans reached the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup and, with him back in the ranks, the final of 2007. The previous year, he capped an astonishing 5-0 white-washing of England with a rambunctious 152 in the final match at Headingley that catapulted Sri Lanka to their 322-run target with 12.3 overs to spare. Sanath Jayasuriya set new rules for one-day batting once he moved to the top of the order.

Sri Lanka reached the 2003 World Cup semi-final and the 2007 final under his captaincy. 9. JOS BUTTLER. A global superstar for his impact in Twenty20 cricket, particularly at the Indian Premier League, he successfully transferred astronomical scoring rates to the 50-over game. No one to have averaged more than his 39.59 in the format’s history can better his strike rate of 116.35. His selfless attitude was at the core of England’s transformation from also-rans to all-stars a decade ago. In an 18-month period from mid-2014, he showed others the way, hitting what at the time were England's three fastest one-day hundreds - against Sri Lanka at Lord's, New Zealand at Edgbaston and Pakistan in Dubai, the latter off just 46 balls.

But he also possesses poise. Often overlooked is his contribution to England’s World Cup final win of 2019 when his 59 off 60 balls helped rebuild the innings alongside Ben Stokes. England's Jos Buttler is one of the most selfless and destructive one-day batters of all time. Buttler was also at the centre of England's greatest one-day moment, to win the 2019 World Cup. 8. RICKY PONTING. One of the best readers of a situation of all time, his adaptability at No 3 was key to Australia’s golden generation of limited-overs cricket.

A World Cup winner on three occasions, he took the man of the match gong in the final of 2003 with a batting masterclass against India, taking advantage of the ball flying further at altitude in Johannesburg and striking eight sixes in an unbeaten 140. Ponting's Australia reeled off 26 consecutive World Cup victories from 1999 to 2011. He became the first man in history to score ODI hundreds against all other Test nations.

Not as explosive as team-mate Adam Gilchrist, it was his consistency that proved integral to Australia reeling off 26 consecutive victories at World Cups between 1999-2011. He also led Australia to two Champions Trophy titles during this period, one in which he became the first man in history to score ODI hundreds against all other Test nations and finished as the world’s most prolific batter in both 2005 and 2009.