It has always been a norm to compare two best players of the current generation. In the previous era, the cricket discussions mostly involved Sachin Tendulkar vs Brian Lara. Who was the better batsman, was the question which was always close to the cricket pundits. Similarly in the modern era, it is Virat Kohli vs Steven Smith. Both of these talisman batsmen are always cynosure of all eyes and their performances are closely monitored.
There is always a dogfight between these two brilliant batsmen for the top spot of the ICC Test rankings. Currently, that battle is being won by the Australian as he leads the charts. However, Kohli is not far behind Smith in the red ball version. In fact, it is prudent to say that Smith has a wood on Kohli in the pristine form of the game.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli holds the edge over Steven Smith if we talk about white ball formats. Kohli is the most consistent batsman in the world and he is the solitary batter to have an average of more than 50 in all the three forms of the game.
Australia’s opener David Warner who has observed these two players battle it out for supremacy weighed on the comparison.
David Warner said while talking to Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, “When it comes to cricket, they both have the mental strength, the mental capacity to score runs. They both love spending time in the middle. Virat’s passion and drive to score runs is different to what Steve’s would be,” said Warner.
“Steve is going out there for a hit in the middle, that’s how he sees things. He’s hitting them out in the middle, he’s having fun, he’s enjoying himself, just does not want to get out. Virat obviously doesn’t want to get out but he knows if he spends a certain amount of time out there he’s going to score plenty of runs at a rapid rate. He’s going to get on top of you. That allows the guys coming in, especially in the Indian team you’ve got a lot of players who can be flamboyant as well.
It is well known that both Smith and Kohli play the game with great passion. Both of them have an insatiable hunger to succeed and provide the big runs for their team. There is very little to choose who is better than whom as both of them have their respective strengths and weaknesses.
Both of them are world-class batsmen and they hate to get out. In fact, it is hard for the opposition bowlers to dismiss them once they are settled at the crease. Kohli has scored more than 21000 International runs and has 70 centuries under his belt whereas Smith has amassed 7227 runs in 73 Test matches at an impressive average of 62.84.
Smith made a roaring comeback after serving his ban and had an incredible Ashes as he scored 774 runs in four Test matches whereas Kohli has done a great job in white ball format.
Written by: Gautam Chauhan
