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Steve Smith V/S Joe Root
The comparisons are inevitable. Both these players belong to countries that share the biggest rivalry in Test Cricket. The rivalry between Australia and England is as old as the oldest Cricket books and is well known around the globe. On one hand, we have the English Test Captain who has previously proved himself as the best test batsman in the world according to the ICC rankings and on the other hand, we have the former Australian captain who is currently touted as the best test batsman in the world as per the ICC rankings. Both Batsmen are part of the “Fab Four” which also includes Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.
A lot of questions have been raised about their batting styles and form and most importantly who is the better batsman? This question was raised during the 2015 Ashes, both were captains in waiting, being prodigies, it was obvious that a lot of eyebrows were raised.
STEVE SMITH - The Test of Times
The 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal, also known as the Sandpaper gate scandal, was a cricket scandal that engulfed the Australian cricket team. In March 2018, Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to make it swing in flight during the third test match against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town. Then captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were found to be involved and all three players were penalized for their unprecedented sanctions from Cricket Australia. Even though Smith was found not to have been directly involved in the act, Darren Lehmann, the Australian coach announced that he would step down as captain.
Smith was then replaced by Tim Paine as a Test captain. After a detailed investigation by Cricket Australia, Smith was handed over a ban from all international and domestic cricket in Australia for one complete year starting from 29 March 2018, and also from consideration for any leadership role for another year.
Although this incident tarnished his image for a while, he came back stronger from this incident. It was disheartening for many Australian cricket fans to see a player of his caliber get involved in an incident like this. Apart from this, Smith has a phenomenal career behind him to prove to the critics that he deserves a place at the highest level of the game.
Since his debut on 5th February 2010 against Pakistan in a T20 match, the former Australian captain has played 237 international matches.
Test –
Smith has played 73 test matches since his debut on 13th July 2010 against Pakistan and has scored 7,227 runs at an insane average of 62.84. He has 26 hundred, 3 double hundreds and 29 fifties under his belt. His top score in Test cricket is 239.
ODIs-
Smith made his debut on 19th February 2010 against West Indies, since then he has scored 4, 162 runs from 125 matches at an average of 42.46, which includes 9 hundred and 25 fifties. Smith’s highest score in one-day internationals is 164.
T20-
Since his debut on 5th February 2010 against Pakistan, smith has scored 681 runs from 39 matches. He has a top score of 90 and has 4 fifties to his name. His batting average in the shortest format stands at 29.60.
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JOE ROOT – Carrying the Baton
Joe Root was born to a family with a rich cricketing background. Hailing from a family of County Cricket players, Root always had the pressure of making his mark in Cricket. His grandfather had captained the Rotherham CC in the Yorkshire League for several seasons and his younger brother, Billy Root is a regular intake with Glamorgan. Not only was he awarded a Daily Telegraph scholarship at the 2005 Bunbury festival, but he also got scholarships at Workshop College where he did his schooling and also at the Yorkshire Cricket Academy. So, it was clear from the beginning that Root was meant to do great things in International cricket.
In the fourth Test against India in the 2012-13 series, Root became the 655th player to represent England at Test cricket, receiving his cap from former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood. He came in at number 6 rather than his usual position as an opener, he scored 73 from 229 balls, top-scoring jointly with Kevin Pietersen. His innings lasted for 289 minutes, making it the sixth-longest innings by an English batsman on debut. This innings guided England to safety and marked Root as a reliable test candidate.
Since his debut against India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium on 13th December 2012, Root has played 269 international matches:
Test -
Since his debut against India on 13th December 2012, Root has played in 92 test matches from which he has scored 7599 runs which include 17 hundred and 3 double hundreds and 48 fifties. Root has a test average of 48.09 and his highest score in a test match is 254.
ODI –
Root made his one-day International debut against India at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on 11th Jan 2013. Since then, he has played 145 matches from which he scored 5922 at an average 51.05. He has 16 hundred and 33 fifties under his belt.
T20 –
Root made his T20 debut against India on 22nd December 2012 at the Wankhede stadium. He has played 32 matches so far and has scored 893 runs which include 5 fifties. Root’s average in the shortest format of the game is 35.72.
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Conclusion
If we put both their stats opposite each other to compare, Smith has played less number of test matches than Root, but he is not so far behind when we compare their runs, also Smith’s batting average in tests is much better than Root currently. Smith also has 9 more hundreds than Root in the longest format of the game.
If we talk about one-day Internationals, again Root has played 20 more matches than Smith. Smith is behind on the scorecard by a little more than 1700 runs from his English counterpart. Root has a better batting average and 7 more hundreds to put his claim.
In the shortest format of the game, both players have played less than 40 matches, and both have less than 1000 runs accredited to their name. Since we are comparing, we can give this one to Joe Root for having a better batting average.
In the end, it is extremely hard to compare two world-class players on a measuring scale, given the fact that they have contributed immensely to their respective teams. Clearly Steve Smith is the best test batsman than Joe Root at the moment, but if we look into their career overall, Joe Root has taken away the title of being the better of the two by a slight margin.
We know you love both these cricketers for their respective contributions to their team and International Cricket. which one of the two is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below. Also, let us know if you like reading such comparisons and which players should we do next? We love creating such interesting content for you, so let us know what you love!
