img source:google.com
Virat Kohli V/S Steve Smith
This is the most talked about comparison in the World of Cricket today. Virat Kohli is regarded as the best batsman in the World today. Since October 2017, Virat has been the top-ranked ODI batsman in the World and is currently 2nd in the Test rankings just one step behind his Australian counter-part Steve Smith. Now the competition between the two is so stiff that it is hard to decide who is a better test cricketer.
At the time when Smith made his debut in international Cricket, young Virat Kohli was trying to cement his place in the Indian middle-order. He had had been called a “specialist” in limited-overs format, but the Delhi Cricketer had to wait until June 2011 to represent India in longest format of the game. Nine Years later, both of these players are fighting for the top-spot in the Test rankings with Steve Smith at the top spot while Virat Kohli sitting right behind him at the second rank.
Steve Smith
On one hand, there is the former Captain of the Australian team Steve smith who has been consistently rated as the best test batsman in the world, according to the ICC rankings. He has also been called the “best since Bradman” because of his typically high batting average in Tests. Although he was initially selected for Australia as a right-arm leg spinner, Smith eventually started playing primarily as a batsman. After a few appearances in 2010 and 2011, soon he became a regular pick in the Australian side. Smith took over captaincy from Michael Clarke in late 2015.
Smith holds a lot of accolades to his name apart from the records he has on the field, some of which are the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2015; ICC Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017; the Allan Border Medal for the best player in Australian Cricket in 2015 and 2018; He was named the Australian Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2018 and Australian One Day International Player of the Year in 2015. He was also named by Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year for 2015. In 2014, Martin Crowe rated Smith as one of the young Fab Four of Test cricket along with Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Kane Williamson. Smith reached a Test batting rating of 947 on 30 December 2017, the second-highest of all time, only behind Don Bradman's 961.
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 hundreds, 3 double hundreds and 29 fifties under his belt. His top score in Test cricket is 239.
ODI –
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 hundreds 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.
img source:google.com
Virat Kohli
On the other hand, we have the Indian Captain Virat Kohli who is also known as “King Kohli” by his fans across the world. Shortly after leading the India Under-19 team to a World Cup victory in 2008 in Malaysia, Kohli made his debut for India at the age of 19 against Sri Lanka. Soon, he cemented hi spot in the middle-order and became a regular in the team. He was also part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad. This also earned him a place in the Test side in the same year. Kohli was named the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012 and was awarded the Test captaincy after Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Test retirement in 2014. In early 2017, Kohli became the limited-overs captain as well after Dhoni stepped down from the position.
Kohli has the second highest number of centuries and the highest number of centuries in run-chases in the world in one day Internationals. He holds the world record for being the fastest batsman to surpass 10,000 and 11,000 runs in ODI cricket, reaching the milestones in 205 and 222 innings, respectively.
Kohli has seen a phenomenal rise in Cricket and has many awards such as the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2017 and 2018; ICC Test Player of the Year 2018; ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012, 2017 and 2018 and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He was bestowed with the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Padma Shri under the sports category in 2017 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honor in India, in the year 2018.
Since his debut against Sri Lanka in August 2008, Kohli has played 415 international matches:
Test-
Virat Kohli made his Test debut against West Indies at Sabrina Park, 20th June 2011. Since then, Virat Kohli has scored 7240 runs from 86 matches which includes 27 hundreds, 7 double-hundreds and 22 fifties. His batting average in Tests is 53.63 and his highest score in a match is 254.
ODI –
Since Kohli made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka at Rangiri Dambulla International stadium on 18th August 2008, he has played in 248 matches and has 11876 runs at an average of 59.34. He has 43 hundreds and 58 fifties under his name.
T20 –
Kohli made his T20 debut against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on 12th June 2010. He has scored 2794 runs from the 81 matches he has played at an average of 50.8. He also has 24 fifties to his name in the shortest format.
img source:google.com
Conclusion
In Tests, Kohli has played 13 more matches than Smith but the margin in their career runs is not so big as Smith is just 13 runs behind Kohli. Kohli has leads the race when it comes to 100+ scores. Kohli leads by 1 extra hundred and 4 double hundreds but the former Australian captain has a better batting average than Kohli. He leads with an average of 62.84 against Kohli’s 53.63. We have to give this one to Steve Smith who is just one notch higher than the Indian captain, he has achieved his records in less number of matches.
In ODIs, Kohli is far ahead of Steve Smith. Having played almost double the matches, Kohli has scored 11786 runs in one day Internationals while Smith has 4,162 runs. With 43 hundreds under his belt, he is only behind the great Sachin Tendulkar in the race of the highest number of centuries in one day Internationals. He also far ahead with his batting average touching 60.
Even in the shortest format of the game(T20), Kohli leads the race with 2794 runs from 81 matches, while having played only 39 matches, Smith has 681 runs to his name. Kohli also leads by far on batting average with an average of 50.8.
So, in the end we can conclude that although Steve Smith is the best Test batsman in the World today but Kohli is the best batsman across all formats, given the fact that he has more International experience than Smith.
