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Angelo Mathews vs Virat Kohli - Who is the better Test Batsman?

hafeezrocks

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Both are upcoming stars for their respective teams in the Longest format of the game. Virat had a wonderful series in SA and Mathews has won the series for his team in England.

Who do you think is the better Test Batsman at this point among the two ?
 
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:kohli is a wanna be :ahmed . Plz keep the clown only for IPL tamasha and pyjama ODI games. Test cricket is for real men like Mathews
 
Haha this will send all the Indian fans into a tangle.

Maybe it will be the Kallis vs Ponting/Tendulkar debate in the years to come.
 
Mathews' scores when it matters , Kohli scores when either the series is dead or match is heading towards a draw.

Mathews is better than all these Kohlis , Pujaras and Sharmas in tests.

I dont remember a single match winning/saving knock by Kohli in Tests.
 
Its boring to compare players with little sample data (in this case - Kohli whose data is too low).

If I have to absolutely pick, I would say Mathews as of now.

But that's if I absolutely have to choose. Let sufficient data arrive and we can have a fun debate.
 
Who do you think is the better Test Batsman at this point among the two ?

So it is a temporal comparison.

In that case the answer is, Matthews is the better batsman at this moment. Some other day Kohli would be the better batsman. And so forth.
 
Mathews' scores when it matters , Kohli scores when either the series is dead or match is heading towards a draw.

Mathews is better than all these Kohlis , Pujaras and Sharmas in tests.

I dont remember a single match winning/saving knock by Kohli in Tests.

Really? His knocks in dust bowls (Delhi against Aus, Mumbai against Eng) and then against Steyn, Philander (Joberg).

I won't say Mathews is a better batsman than Pujara. I would wait.
 
So it is a temporal comparison.

In that case the answer is, Matthews is the better batsman at this moment. Some other day Kohli would be the better batsman. And so forth.

Yes only at this point of time . If Kohli outperforms Mathews in England , then he will be better.
 
Mathews atm he has lead by example in this series a matchwinning all round contribution. Kohli has scored a lot of meaningless Test runs his ton in Aus at home vs England and in NZ had no impact on the result of the series.

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Yeah, the man who averages 23 in SA and 29 in Australia/India.

LoL at Indian love affair with batting averages. You can enjoy Kohli pyjama cricket 50+ batting average while Mathews is enjoying the test series victory in England leading from front. The best :kohli can do as captain is to make funny face as the ball from :afridi bat goes over for six.
 
Mathews atm he has lead by example in this series a matchwinning all round contribution. Kohli has scored a lot of meaningless Test runs his ton in Aus at home vs England and in NZ had no impact on the result of the series.

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Yes thats what. Completely meaningless and inconsequential runs.
 
It is unfair to compare them at this stage. Virat had a great series in SA but the team didn't win, Mathews has had an equally good series in England but the team has won the series. Obviously inclination will be towards Matthews. Unless they both play enough tests in similar venues, comparison will be futile.
 
Based on Mathew's superiority in what ?

Mathew has scored in Eng. I don't remember the score but did well against Ajmal too.

I think he averages 78 after becoming captain. Sure he comes in the lower order but does a fine job.

That's why I said let's wait and watch. For me Pujara > Kohli.
 
Yes thats what. Completely meaningless and inconsequential runs.

The topic should make for an interesting comparison overall but you and [MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION] come off as trolls with posts like that.
 
Mathews easily. His record is phenomenal in different playing conditions of late.

Seriously? He played 6 innings each in Aus and SA in the last 3 years. He is averaging in 20s in both places.
 
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The topic should make for an interesting comparison overall but you and [MENTION=136193]Adil_94[/MENTION] come off as trolls with posts like that.
im not trolling i think Kohli will be one of the Test bats in the world. His knocks in SA proved that but he also has got a lot of runs in dead rubbers and has failed to step up in the more important games in his career so far but i have no doubt he will rectify that starting with this tour of England

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Mathews easily imo, its not just this series he showed what he is made of even against Pakistan in UAE. Kohli is yet so play those knocks so far.
 
Mathews atm he has lead by example in this series a matchwinning all round contribution. Kohli has scored a lot of meaningless Test runs his ton in Aus at home vs England and in NZ had no impact on the result of the series.

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How does one score inconsequential runs?

100 & 96 at Jo'burg.. Setting up 450 for our bowlers with 1.5 days only to blow it up.. and then a century saving us from a prospect of white-wash against NZ of all teams.
 
LoL at Indian love affair with batting averages. You can enjoy Kohli pyjama cricket 50+ batting average while Mathews is enjoying the test series victory in England leading from front. The best :kohli can do as captain is to make funny face as the ball from :afridi bat goes over for six.

I am talking about Test Cricket genius.
 
Kohli has this tendency to look at ease and throw away his wicket.

Eg - When England toured India.

I think he is improving in that front.
 
How does one score inconsequential runs?

100 & 96 at Jo'burg.. Setting up 450 for our bowlers with 1.5 days only to blow it up.. and then a century saving us from a prospect of white-wash against NZ of all teams.
the SA knocks were special but his NZ Ton wasnt all that India werent in danger of losing that match. in the first Test him and Dhawan looked on course to get India close then he played a rubbish shot and got out handing NZ the initiative.

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Mathew has scored in Eng. I don't remember the score but did well against Ajmal too.

I think he averages 78 after becoming captain. Sure he comes in the lower order but does a fine job.

That's why I said let's wait and watch. For me Pujara > Kohli.

-Mathews FAILED in Australia, South Africa and India. Averages in early and late 20s.

It's not even a comparison. If 1 innings can undo 40+ Tests, then Umar Akmal Vs Kohli thread should also be considered alive. One good knock and Umar >> Kohli.
 
Kohli has this tendency to look at ease and throw away his wicket.

Eg - When England toured India.

I think he is improving in that front.

^I think he fixed that in SA, he left so many tempting deliveries outside off. That is the best bit about him even at this stage he is improving his game with every series. Time for him now to look for daddy 100's, enough of these 100-120 scores.
 
How does one score inconsequential runs?

100 & 96 at Jo'burg.. Setting up 450 for our bowlers with 1.5 days only to blow it up.. and then a century saving us from a prospect of white-wash against NZ of all teams.

Oh what a big deal , scoring a match saving century against NZ while being asked to face only 52 overs. What a champion .

On a pitch where Mc Cullum got a triple ton , were India going to get bowled out in 50 overs ?

And why score when it will have no bearing on overall result of the series , was he sleeping in the first test ?
 
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I do think Kohli will become the better Test batsman but currently id say Matthews.

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the SA knocks were special but his NZ Ton wasnt all that India werent in danger of losing that match. in the first Test him and Dhawan looked on course to get India close then he played a rubbish shot and got out handing NZ the initiative.

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Point being that a batsman can only do so much. What if Eranga hadn't gotten Anderson out today? Would you not rate this 160 from Matthews?

If W/L was a factor batsman were rated upon, Lara wouldn't be anywhere near top 3. Or for that matter even Sachin.
 
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Angelo Mathews is a match-winner

at the moment Angelo>Virat (tests only)
 
-Mathews FAILED in Australia, South Africa and India. Averages in early and late 20s.

It's not even a comparison. If 1 innings can undo 40+ Tests, then Umar Akmal Vs Kohli thread should also be considered alive. One good knock and Umar >> Kohli.

Bud, it was more of a gut level choice. Not based on solid analysis.

Plus Mathews off late has been good. The Mathews of now would do well in Aus/SA. What extent I don't know but he would do fine. I said the same about Sanga in the old Sanga Vs Laxman thread (quite a while back). Said that he would correct his records in due course of time. Sanga did well in England, didn't he? If there were more tests, he would have piled on the runs.

Anyways, Kohli or Mathews - it doesn't matter. Sample data is low.
 
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Point being that a batsman can only do so much. What if Eranga hadn't gotten Anderson out today? Would you not rate this 160 from Matthews?
id still rate it as one of the best knocks by a SC Batsman in England dragging his team from a position when it looked like they could lose to one of a possible victory. credit has to be given to the SL Bowling attack to

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Seriously? He played 6 innings each in Aus and SA in the last 3 years. He is averaging in 20s in both places.

of late - as in he played phenomenally in the UAE and then replicated his success in different conditions in England ...
 
^I think he fixed that in SA, he left so many tempting deliveries outside off. That is the best bit about him even at this stage he is improving his game with every series. Time for him now to look for daddy 100's, enough of these 100-120 scores.

So true.
 
I knew someone will open such kind of a thread.

Matthews Avg

In AUS: 29.16

In SA: 23.33

In SL: 48.82

In BAN: 67

In Ind: 29.9

In UAE: 73.37

In Eng: 76


Away Avg: 39.30


KOHLI

In IND: 50.5

In WI: 15.20

In SA: 68

In NZ: 71.33

In AUS: 37.50


Away Avg: 43.10


This shows Matthews is another FTB from Lanka.His away avg despite playing BAN is lower than Kohli's.Kohli hasnt played BAN yet.
 
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Cmon joshila bhai.

Mathews has CLEARLY started improving now.

If we forget stats, we would see how good Mathews has become now.
 
So we should compare batsman on pure numbers and not the special knocks that they have played. If Kohli is better than Mathews then how about showing some match winning knocks played by him like Mathews played in the recent test.
 
So we should compare batsman on pure numbers and not the special knocks that they have played. If Kohli is better than Mathews then how about showing some match winning knocks played by him like Mathews played in the recent test.

Kohli forgot to bowl. Some one needs to remind him ;)
 
So we should compare batsman on pure numbers and not the special knocks that they have played. If Kohli is better than Mathews then how about showing some match winning knocks played by him like Mathews played in the recent test.

To be honest, if it we had half decent bowling, Kohli's Joberg exploits would have been match winning.

Its not Kohli's fault that our bowling is rubbish.
 
This Sri Lanka win will lead to dozens of "who is the best between player 1 and player 2" threads now.
 
Cmon joshila bhai.

Mathews has CLEARLY started improving now.

If we forget stats, we would see how good Mathews has become now.

Yes he has improved because he has scored two centuries in england.Really?

Kohli has centuries in NZ/SA/AUS already.

Matthews is another SL FTB and these kinds of thread on PP are dime a dozen.Earlier it was Tendulkar/Sehwag/Dravid etc now its Kohli.
 
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So we should compare batsman on pure numbers and not the special knocks that they have played. If Kohli is better than Mathews then how about showing some match winning knocks played by him like Mathews played in the recent test.

Games are won by a 11 player team.
 
2 Different positions. At no.3 the prime goals is to pile up runs. at No.6 it's a different game saving games and batting with the tail. It's not an easy comparison and also they have only just started to get into their strides in test arena.
 
Yes he has improved because he has scored two centuries in england.Really?

Kohli has centuries in NZ/SA/AUS already.

Matthews is another SL FTB and these kinds of thread on PP are dime a dozen.Earlier it was Tendulkar/Sehwag/Dravid etc now its Kohli.

The Mathews (of now) would do well in other countries. He is improving.

Just like I said Sanga would set his records straight soon enough. In this England series, he did show his class. If this was a 5 match series, odds are he would have piled on the runs.

Coming back to Mathews, if he flops in other countries, he would be rightfully criticized. But for now, he is turning out to be a gem of a test player. Averages 78 after becoming the captain (I think). Very very good lower order player.
 
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Kohli will need to play similar knocks in England by taking the right opportunity at the right time , no point giving excuses of a weak bowling attack. Sri Lanka doesnt have likes of Wasim , Waqar and Murali either.
 
To be honest, if it we had half decent bowling, Kohli's Joberg exploits would have been match winning.

Its not Kohli's fault that our bowling is rubbish.

Exactly.

Its like saying Moeen Ali scored a useless century today just because England ended up losing. :facepalm:
 
I knew someone will open such kind of a thread.

Matthews Avg

In AUS: 29.16

In SA: 23.33

In SL: 48.82

In BAN: 67

In Ind: 29.9

In UAE: 73.37

In Eng: 76


Away Avg: 39.30


KOHLI

In IND: 50.5

In WI: 15.20

In SA: 68

In NZ: 71.33

In AUS: 37.50


Away Avg: 43.10


This shows Matthews is another FTB from Lanka.His away avg despite playing BAN is lower than Kohli's.Kohli hasnt played BAN yet.
NZ fails in 3 out of 4 innings second innings first Test building a potentially match winning partnership with Dhawan gets out playing a hack shot across the line India lose. Scores an unbeaten ton which boosts his average when India have only 50 overs left to bat India cant lose makes it look like he had a great series in NZ but he choked when it mattered. in Aus failed in first 2 Tests did okay in Perth and got a ton in Adelaide fair play but it was a dead rubber. only place his record is unquestionable is in SA was magnificent in that series. Stats arent all what they are made out to be. I mean in this current SL series Jimmy has an average in the early series and got Man of the series but any England fan will tell you he didnt bowl that well. got a lot of tailender wickets

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NZ fails in 3 out of 4 innings second innings first Test building a potentially match winning partnership with Dhawan gets out playing a hack shot across the line India lose. Scores an unbeaten ton which boosts his average when India have only 50 overs left to bat India cant lose makes it look like he had a great series in NZ but he choked when it mattered. in Aus failed in first 2 Tests did okay in Perth and got a ton in Adelaide fair play but it was a dead rubber. only place his record is unquestionable is in SA was magnificent in that series. Stats arent all what they are made out to be. I mean in this current SL series Jimmy has an average in the early series and got Man of the series but any England fan will tell you he didnt bowl that well. got a lot of tailender wickets

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All that true, but it is far worse for Mathews in all those tours. Mathews got plenty of dead-rubbers too, he failed there. One innings cannot change the fact that he let Sri Lanka down everywhere except for Bangla and UAE tracks.

He may have shown signs of improvement with this tour, but improvement is a process. Judge that after 10 Tests, not one.
 
All that true, but it is far worse for Mathews in all those tours. Mathews got plenty of dead-rubbers too, he failed there. One innings cannot change the fact that he let Sri Lanka down everywhere except for Bangla and UAE tracks.

He may have shown signs of improvement with this tour, but improvement is a process. Judge that after 10 Tests, not one.
like i have said before i think Kohli will become better than Mathews in Tests but currently id say Mathews is better but Kohli can easily rectify this.

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Oh man.. knives are already out on kohli.. 5 tests.. loads of opportunities.. i'd wait before commenting

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As usual some neighbors getting insecure. Don't know why they hate the thought of batsmen from other countries taking over their own batsmen and are never ready to accept it.

Mathews is a world class Test batsman as he has proved it. He has matured A LOT and is a completely different batsman. Kohli has a long way to go to prove himself in Tests. Can Kohli keep it up and reach Mathew's caliber? Only time will tell, he has the potential.

But don't get insecure about it my fellow neighbors. Sensible Indian posted some sensible posts though, and joshila like always being joshila and not thinking from his mind.
 
NZ fails in 3 out of 4 innings second innings first Test building a potentially match winning partnership with Dhawan gets out playing a hack shot across the line India lose. Scores an unbeaten ton which boosts his average when India have only 50 overs left to bat India cant lose makes it look like he had a great series in NZ but he choked when it mattered. in Aus failed in first 2 Tests did okay in Perth and got a ton in Adelaide fair play but it was a dead rubber. only place his record is unquestionable is in SA was magnificent in that series. Stats arent all what they are made out to be. I mean in this current SL series Jimmy has an average in the early series and got Man of the series but any England fan will tell you he didnt bowl that well. got a lot of tailender wickets

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LOL.Now come out with more excuses.

fact is that Matthews fails to score in most places outside SC,Kohli doesnt.
 
like i have said before i think Kohli will become better than Mathews in Tests but currently id say Mathews is better but Kohli can easily rectify this.

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So because of one innings in ENG Matthews is better than Kohli.LOL.What else?
 
As usual some neighbors getting insecure. Don't know why they hate the thought of batsmen from other countries taking over their own batsmen and are never ready to accept it.

Mathews is a world class Test batsman as he has proved it. He has matured A LOT and is a completely different batsman. Kohli has a long way to go to prove himself in Tests. Can Kohli keep it up and reach Mathew's caliber? Only time will tell, he has the potential.

But don't get insecure about it my fellow neighbors. Sensible Indian posted some sensible posts though, and joshila like always being joshila and not thinking from his mind.

Kohli reaching Matthew's calibre?That will be a downgrade for Kohli.

Someone who thinks Hafeezrocks,no wonder considers Matthews as a World class test batsman.Continue with your delusions.
 
As usual some neighbors getting insecure. Don't know why they hate the thought of batsmen from other countries taking over their own batsmen and are never ready to accept it.

Mathews is a world class Test batsman as he has proved it. He has matured A LOT and is a completely different batsman. Kohli has a long way to go to prove himself in Tests. Can Kohli keep it up and reach Mathew's caliber? Only time will tell, he has the potential.

But don't get insecure about it my fellow neighbors. Sensible Indian posted some sensible posts though, and joshila like always being joshila and not thinking from his mind.

Mathews too has a long way to prove himself. 2600 runs is not a big sample size.

Its just that he is getting better and better and better these days. Awesome batsman (no doubt). However his stats are really bad in Aus/SA. Needs to sort them out which he will.

Kohli is improving too. He has pretty good all round stats in different countries. It would be interesting to watch him vs Eng.
 
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So because of one innings in ENG Matthews is better than Kohli.LOL.What else?
can you deny apart from SA Kohli has scored a lot of meaningless runs in Test Cricket. That his stats dont show

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can you deny apart from SA Kohli has scored a lot of meaningless runs in Test Cricket. That his stats dont show

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Meaningless runs in test cricket?Is this the new excuse on PP?

There are no meaningless runs in test cricket.
 
On Current form Mathews is better

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Current form?You mean when Matthews was playing in england and Kohli's team wasnt playing anywhere?Or when Lanka was playing Bangladesh and India was touring SA/NZ?
 
Current form?You mean when Matthews was playing in england and Kohli's team wasnt playing anywhere?Or when Lanka was playing Bangladesh and India was touring SA/NZ?
Mathews in UAE and in England has been outstanding scored in pressure situations. Kohli was great in SA but was average in NZ. Kohlis Test Career has been unimpressive so far bar that SA series. for a batsman of his calibre and talent.

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Meaningless runs in test cricket?Is this the new excuse on PP?

There are no meaningless runs in test cricket.
scoring in dead rubbers and going missing in the games where the series is alive is a really big factor in defining a Top Batsman.

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I know im being harsh on Kohli but when people are comparing as a successor to Sachin he has to match Sachins standards

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jthis picture will be clear when mathews face likes of steyn philander southee boult. and kohli face anderson board and plunket
 
scoring in dead rubbers and going missing in the games where the series is alive is a really big factor in defining a Top Batsman.

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He has scored runs against Aus, NZ, SA when series was not dead. He has played only handful of series. He anyway had a bad start of his test career but in last 2 years he has been playing very well. Surely at the level of top class batsman. Even top class batsman is not going to always score runs. Playes should be judged on how they are batting and there are not too many batsman right now who I will have ahead of Kohli.
 
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He has scored runs against Aus, NZ, SA when series was not dead. He has played only handful of series. He had anyway had a bad start of his test career but in last 2 years he has been playing very well. Surly at level of top class batsman. Even top class batsman is not going to always score runs.
i think Kohli will improve his record he is too good not to.

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i think Kohli will improve his record he is too good not to.

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I don't think there is much in these records to be honest. It's a very short career and it's meaningless to compare players based on that. Let's see how he goes in 9 tests in Eng and Aus. Indians are playing non-stop in difficult conditions. Not sure why they have such schedule.
 
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I don't think there is much in these records to be honest. It's very short career and it's meaningless to compare players based on that. Let's see how he goes in 9 tests in Eng and Aus. Indians are playing non-stop in difficult conditions. Not sure why they have such schedule.
it is pretty weird scheduling tbh. But if he does well there will be no question marks on Kohli as a Test Batsman

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it is pretty weird scheduling tbh. But if he does well there will be no question marks on Kohli as a Test Batsman

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It's baptism by fire for all young Indian players. SA, NZ, Eng and Aus - One after another with two long tours. I don't think they will win much for another 1-2 years when playing away but they will have an opportunity to build a solid core of players for years to come. Useless players will be found out in all these tough tours. So far I think, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane and Shami. These 4 seems to have good potential. They need to find 3-4 more in upcoming tours to have a decent core for future. Not sure where Yadav disappeared. I thought he was a genuine prospect for them.
 
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It's baptism by fire for all young Indian players. I don't think they will win much for 1-2 years but they will have an opportunity to build a solid core of players for years to come. Useless players will be found out in all these tough tours. So far I think, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane and Shami. These 4 seems to have good potential. They need to find 3-4 more in upcoming tours to have a decent core for future.
its about showing a backbone as long as they compete well like they did in SA. It will a good learning curve for them.

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Indian fans should stop reacting as if Kohli is some Bradman, he doesnt even average 50 in Tests . He has been nothing exceptional as of now.
 
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