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"Virat Kohli close but Joe Root and Kane Williamson are nowhere near Steve Smith" : Ricky Ponting

Aman

Aman

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"Virat Kohli close but Joe Root and Kane Williamson are nowhere near Steve Smith" : Ricky Ponting

Australian captain Steve Smith hammered his second Test double hundred on Saturday on the third day of the third Test against England in Perth. With his first double century at home, he became the first captain to score an Ashes Test double ton since Allan Border did so in 1993. In the course of his innings, the 28-year old also broke a 50-year old record held by Sir Garfield Sobers, as he became the player to score maximum runs after 108 innings in Test cricket.

Speaking on Smith’s performance, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that Smith is better than some of the best players in the world at the moment.

“You look at the other better players in the world; Virat Kohli is on a pretty high pedestal but then you look at Joe Root and Kane Williamson, as far as I’m concerned those guys are nowhere near as good as Steven Smith and I’ve said that for a long time,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.

The three-time World Cup winning player further added that England players came to him seeking advice on how to get Smith out. “I even had England players come to me this morning saying ‘Just give us something on Smith. What are we going to bowl to Smith?’. And I said, ‘Look, one, I’m not going to tell you. And two, I don’t know anyway because it seems like he’s got every base covered’,” the 42-year old said.

Ponting further added that if Smith was playing in the era of Timeless Tests, he would be invincible. “You look at his wagon wheel, he’s got boundaries almost all around the ground and there’s no obvious weakness and with his appetite for runs that he’s got he’ll just keep batting forever. Imagine him back in the day when there were Timeless Tests he would’ve just batted forever!”

The former Australian batsman also went on to praise the selectors for backing Mitchell Marsh’s selection in the team and said the left-handed batsman has grown as a cricketer.

“There has been a lot of ‘noise’ about Mitchell Marsh and his selection back in the team again.Have the selectors made the wrong or the right call? I think it’s been proven again they’ve made the right call… There wouldn’t be a person in Australia that’s not happy seeing Mitchell Marsh doing what he’s doing at the moment,” he said.

Ponting added that Marsh’s performance in Perth can boost his international Test career. “Some of the striking and how clean and pure the striking has been today, this could be the start of a really long and successful international career now. It seems like he’s unlocked something within himself and he can go and play with a bit of freedom and he now knows he’s got the game to succeed at Test level, which is really important,” he said.

Smith and Marsh built an unbeaten 301-run stand on Day 3 as Australia reached 549/4 at stumps. Marsh went on to score his maiden Test ton and remained unbeaten on 181. Smith, on the other hand, reached 229* at stumps. England managed to take only one wicket in the day as Shaun Marsh got out on 28 on Moeen’s Ali delivery in the first session.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...od-as-steve-smith-says-ricky-ponting-4985556/
 
Time to get a new label to separate Smith and Kohli from the rest?

The Big Two?
 
More like The Fab 1, his peers are no where near Smith. The Fab 4 was originally synonymous with Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and Leonard; all first ballot hall of famers / ATG's who competed with each other at the elite level. In this case Smith is just too far ahead, Fab 4 is an insult to him.
 
Fab two has potential to end as Tendulkar and Lara.

Roooot will do well to surpass his own teammates Cook and KP.

Same for Williamson but I think he will end as a better batsmen atleast in tests.

Compare these two with Qdk who is at same level.
 
Batting average:

Smith 62
Kohli 53
Root 52
Kane 50

In tests, I dont see anyone matching Smith that often. All formats combined, its fab two who are arguably better than anyone who debuted post 2000s now.
 
Aman said:
Kohli is closing the gap IMO.
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Is he? Kohli is for sure piling up the runs since 2016. But Smith has been putting up 75+ average years for 4 consecutive calendar years now. Kohli may be matching Smith for pace, but it's not like Smith has slowed down his run production even one bit.
 
A year before, kohli was considered an inferior test batsman to all three of them and posters here used to prognosticate how kohli will be ATG in LOIs while being ordinary to great in test but look at him now, only smith seems to be his competition. If any batsman have it in him to surpass smith as a test batsman in this era, it is one & only : Kohli.
 
Kohli was averaging 44/ 45 & Smith 58 till last year July and everyone was calling him a test failure with no appetite for big runs in true format. Now he's averaging ~ 54 with 6 double centuries whereas Smith is now avg'ing ~62.

2 tours of SA and ENG to follow if :virat can maintain or improve his avg even 1 pt he is def closing in on the gap else Smith will be fab 1 till his reflexes slow down.
 
Smith >>>>Kohli >Kane>>Root.

The gap is too much between Smith and the other 3.

Stats don't lie.
 
I dont remember Root winning any match against a good side even in odis. Yet avgs 50 in odis.
 
I wish there were some truly fast bowlers in the world right now to test Smith's technique. The only half decent ones are in Aus which doesn't help. He gets both feet right in front of those stumps and can get squared up to a ball fired at his pads. But I reckon that it has to be a properly fast delievery to challenge him, or one that swings. His reflexes are too fast to miss anything gun barrel straight.

England's trundlers have no hope. As good as Smith looks, any of Australia's previous generation would have feasted on this 80mph non-swinging medium pace attack which England have offered, with a touch of woeful off spin on the side. Anderson may look good where the ball swings in roundabouts, but as he has proved yet again, he can't perform in conditions which aren't ideal for swing - i.e. most places other than England. If Anderson played for Pakistan on Pakistani/UAE pitches, he wouldn't have a career. Broad is always second fiddle to Anderson and is nothing special. The less said about Woakes the better. The fourth seamer Overton is so poor that you could change him for anyone else on England's bench and no one would even notice.

The sad thing is that looking around the world, I don't actually see very many quality bowlers at all. In this era therefore, good batsmen like Smith are just simply not exposed.
 
Usman said:
I wish there were some truly fast bowlers in the world right now to test Smith's technique. The only half decent ones are in Aus which doesn't help. He gets both feet right in front of those stumps and can get squared up to a ball fired at his pads. But I reckon that it has to be a properly fast delievery to challenge him, or one that swings. His reflexes are too fast to miss anything gun barrel straight.

England's trundlers have no hope. As good as Smith looks, any of Australia's previous generation would have feasted on this 80mph non-swinging medium pace attack which England have offered, with a touch of woeful off spin on the side. Anderson may look good where the ball swings in roundabouts, but as he has proved yet again, he can't perform in conditions which aren't ideal for swing - i.e. most places other than England. If Anderson played for Pakistan on Pakistani/UAE pitches, he wouldn't have a career. Broad is always second fiddle to Anderson and is nothing special. The less said about Woakes the better. The fourth seamer Overton is so poor that you could change him for anyone else on England's bench and no one would even notice.

The sad thing is that looking around the world, I don't actually see very many quality bowlers at all. In this era therefore, good batsmen like Smith are just simply not exposed.
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I feel that the only one who could nip out smith is Starc who attacks stumps and can swing the ball into Middle and Leg at over 145 K's.

Any bowler who bowls length at under 140k's and hoping to get Smith out is only day dreaming. Smith covers his off stump very well with his shuffle and can easily put away anything that is bowled straight to legside for easy runs. If you over pitch, he will drive through covers.

An ugly but effective technique. His hands are super fast too.
 
Aman said:
Kohli is closing the gap IMO.
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That means Kohli’s recent performances are better than before?

This year he played vs Australia at home and batted like a tailender.
Then played against Sri Lanka home and away, nothing that makes you a great player.

If anything, Kohli Has prooved how much a lesser player than Smith he is.
 
Usman said:
I wish there were some truly fast bowlers in the world right now to test Smith's technique. The only half decent ones are in Aus which doesn't help. He gets both feet right in front of those stumps and can get squared up to a ball fired at his pads. But I reckon that it has to be a properly fast delievery to challenge him, or one that swings. His reflexes are too fast to miss anything gun barrel straight.

England's trundlers have no hope. As good as Smith looks, any of Australia's previous generation would have feasted on this 80mph non-swinging medium pace attack which England have offered, with a touch of woeful off spin on the side. Anderson may look good where the ball swings in roundabouts, but as he has proved yet again, he can't perform in conditions which aren't ideal for swing - i.e. most places other than England. If Anderson played for Pakistan on Pakistani/UAE pitches, he wouldn't have a career. Broad is always second fiddle to Anderson and is nothing special. The less said about Woakes the better. The fourth seamer Overton is so poor that you could change him for anyone else on England's bench and no one would even notice.

The sad thing is that looking around the world, I don't actually see very many quality bowlers at all. In this era therefore, good batsmen like Smith are just simply not exposed.
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It has to be said that's got a lot to do with the pitches, the Aussie tracks are roads since the turn of the millennia. They weren't as bad even a decade back, the 2010/11 Eng win was on the back of sporting tracks. Even the Windian quartet bowled Aus out regularly on good wickets, these are absolute disgrace no matter what anyone says. SA showed what they could do on tracks such as these, last year but they didn't face Cummins.

As good as the Aussie bowlers are they fail exactly because of this in places like England or UAE or India, they can't control the moving ball much because they play on gun barrel tracks where pace (& bounce) is their only weapon. I predict a similar result (3-1 or 3-2 loss) for Aus when they visit Eng & very little success in Asia, unless Smith can extend his purple patch for 5 more years.
 
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Lara Sachin did well in both the formats. Even benefit matches :) smithy is a monster in one format. He has to elevate his game in other formats as well. Kohli has to continue delivering all over. Both are not flawless.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Lara Sachin did well in both the formats. Even benefit matches :) smithy is a monster in one format. He has to elevate his game in other formats as well. Kohli has to continue delivering all over. Both are not flawless.
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Smith has already performed in a world cup quarter, semi and final. In ODI's, Kohli has to toughen up in these big matches.
Kohli, in both formats, is a softy compared to Smith.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Lara Sachin did well in both the formats. Even benefit matches :) smithy is a monster in one format. He has to elevate his game in other formats as well. Kohli has to continue delivering all over. Both are not flawless.
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Smith is good in odis. He averages 43 at a good SR and has won Aus a really big match vs India in WC semis. Poor in t20s though.
 
Smith will elevate his ODI and T20i numbers just like Kohli will do so for Tests. But dont think either one will be able to reach the heights reached by the other.
 
Virat's numbers might take a beating in South Africa and then Smith will be the undisputed champion Test bat of this era. i.e if there is any dispute...lol
 
Oligochaetes said:
Virat's numbers might take a beating in South Africa and then Smith will be the undisputed champion Test bat of this era. i.e if there is any dispute...lol
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By the time both retire I expect Virat to leave smith behind. That is what Indian batsmen always do leaving their competitors behind, :) Someone like Rahul might repeat the same.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
By the time both retire I expect Virat to leave smith behind. That is what Indian batsmen always do leaving their competitors behind, :) Someone like Rahul might repeat the same.
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He needs to be given more chances though, not be relegated to a substitute opener in the era of macho/aggressive coaches!
 
WengerOut said:
What happens when Smith's take a beating in next matches?
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......... and if Virat continues his golden run....Virat will be the undisputed Champion :vk

At this point, in my humble opinion, Virat might find it tough in South Africa... Just a hunch. India dont have practise matches before the first test I heard
 
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Just saw that Root is the third fastest to 4000 ODI runs . Behind Amla and Viv.
 
Ponting is simply saying what many PPers have been saying for the last few weeks.
 
WengerOut said:
Just saw that Root is the third fastest to 4000 ODI runs . Behind Amla and Viv.
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Root's problem is conversion into big ones. Also he is not someone who dominates the bowling. Virat and Smith dominate the bowling even in Tests. Sadly none of these guys are attractive stroke players with an exception of Kohli who uses the bat like a wand with his wrists. He is just a gorgeous player to watch. Both Lara and Tendulkar were lovely to watch with Lara looked a bit more attractive batsman with his high back lift, shuffles, follow through etc. Tendulkar a straightline batsman , still very good to watch.
 
WengerOut said:
Just saw that Root is the third fastest to 4000 ODI runs . Behind Amla and Viv.
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4000 soft runs. Cant remember a single match he won against any top side. He is the Amla of odis although more pleasing to eyes unlike the latter.
 
Ab Fan said:
4000 soft runs. Cant remember a single match he won against any top side. He is the Amla of odis although more pleasing to eyes unlike the latter.
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149 against India in Oval, but it was 5th tests and series was done by then.

134 & 60 against Aus in Cardiff - 1st test

254 & 71 against Pakistan in Manchester - 2nd test in series

190 against SA in Lords, 1st test in series.

All of them came at home, but he does have some runs in wins. Over the top criticism is a bit unfair. Unrealistic expectations from Root shouldn't result in him getting unfair criticism.
 
Buffet said:
149 against India in Oval, but it was 5th tests and series was done by then.

134 & 60 against Aus in Cardiff - 1st test

254 & 71 against Pakistan in Manchester - 2nd test in series

190 against SA in Lords, 1st test in series.

All of them came at home, but he does have some runs in wins. Over the top criticism is a bit unfair. Unrealistic expectations from Root shouldn't result in him getting unfair criticism.
Click to expand...

It is ODIs in this specific context
 
Buffet said:
149 against India in Oval, but it was 5th tests and series was done by then.

134 & 60 against Aus in Cardiff - 1st test

254 & 71 against Pakistan in Manchester - 2nd test in series

190 against SA in Lords, 1st test in series.

All of them came at home, but he does have some runs in wins. Over the top criticism is a bit unfair. Unrealistic expectations from Root shouldn't result in him getting unfair criticism.
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That was in odis.

In tests he is a beast at home who has been carrying England lineup solely but lacks impact away.
 
Usman said:
I wish there were some truly fast bowlers in the world right now to test Smith's technique. The only half decent ones are in Aus which doesn't help. He gets both feet right in front of those stumps and can get squared up to a ball fired at his pads. But I reckon that it has to be a properly fast delievery to challenge him, or one that swings. His reflexes are too fast to miss anything gun barrel straight.

England's trundlers have no hope. As good as Smith looks, any of Australia's previous generation would have feasted on this 80mph non-swinging medium pace attack which England have offered, with a touch of woeful off spin on the side. Anderson may look good where the ball swings in roundabouts, but as he has proved yet again, he can't perform in conditions which aren't ideal for swing - i.e. most places other than England. If Anderson played for Pakistan on Pakistani/UAE pitches, he wouldn't have a career. Broad is always second fiddle to Anderson and is nothing special. The less said about Woakes the better. The fourth seamer Overton is so poor that you could change him for anyone else on England's bench and no one would even notice.

The sad thing is that looking around the world, I don't actually see very many quality bowlers at all. In this era therefore, good batsmen like Smith are just simply not exposed.
Click to expand...

They are both are their way to SA. A few quality bowlers here ;)
 
srh said:
no. On the contrary Smith is expanding the gap even more.
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How. Pujara has more test runs this calendar year than Smithy. They both average around the same. Kohli is not far off from either of Smithy or Pujara. If anything he averages 5 points more than Smith, 8 points more than Pujara for this calendar year. So he is not expanding any gap here. Smith's striek rate is 52. Kohli's strike rate is 76. Kohli is that dominating in Tests.
 
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jnaveen1980 said:
How. Pujara has more test runs this calendar year than Smithy. They both average around the same. Kohli is not far off from either of Smithy or Pujara. If anything he averages 5 points more than Smith, 8 points more than Pujara for this calendar year. So he is not expanding any gap here. Smith's striek rate is 52. Kohli's strike rate is 76. Kohli is that dominating in Tests.
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The game is different when playing vs sl attack. Plus have a look at kohli's last 3 100s
100 vs sl in 2nd inn when lead was 200+ and failed when had a chance to make a100 when india were strugling at 5 down.
100 in 2nd inn after failing when needed the most .
200 sl on a pitch where pujara,vijay,mathews and chandimal scored 100s.
Now have a look at Smiths 100s
111 vs india at ranchi in testing conditions. No other batter scored a 100.
100 on a pune pich where team india barely managed 100 in both inns. Kohli got 2 chances in 2nd inn but got out for 3 odd
178 vs ind on a fine batting wicket against no 1 and no 2 bowler in their own backyard.
140 vs eng on a tough pitch when side was struggling.
239 vs eng when side was 50 for 2 trailing 403.
Fun Fact: Only 2 Smith 100s came in losing cause out of 22. 1 of them was when he was batting at no 6.
4 Kohli 100s came in losing cause

Smith avg 85 in wins(excluding current test)
Kohli avg 58 in wins
 
Smudger said:
The game is different when playing vs sl attack. Plus have a look at kohli's last 3 100s
100 vs sl in 2nd inn when lead was 200+ and failed when had a chance to make a100 when india were strugling at 5 down.
100 in 2nd inn after failing when needed the most .
200 sl on a pitch where pujara,vijay,mathews and chandimal scored 100s.
Now have a look at Smiths 100s
111 vs india at ranchi in testing conditions. No other batter scored a 100.
100 on a pune pich where team india barely managed 100 in both inns. Kohli got 2 chances in 2nd inn but got out for 3 odd
178 vs ind on a fine batting wicket against no 1 and no 2 bowler in their own backyard.
140 vs eng on a tough pitch when side was struggling.
239 vs eng when side was 50 for 2 trailing 403.
Fun Fact: Only 2 Smith 100s came in losing cause out of 22. 1 of them was when he was batting at no 6.
4 Kohli 100s came in losing cause

Smith avg 85 in wins(excluding current test)
Kohli avg 58 in wins
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There is no comparison between the two. One is averaging 62 while the other is averaging 53. Only 3 of Smith's hundreds have come against Lanka, WI and Ban combined while 7 of Kohli's hundreds have come up against these teams.

Kohli should be compared with Root and Williamson not Smith as far as tests are concerned.
 
21 of 63 tests played by Kohli are against WI, SL and Ban.

Only 10 of 59 tests played by Smith are against WI, SL and Ban.

And with a batting average difference of 9 , people have guts to compare them.
 
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He's right when talking about the main format.

Smith is a run machine. He's a monster at home.

Av average of 62 after 60 matches?? That's insane.
 
Ted123 said:
21 of 63 tests played by Kohli are against WI, SL and Ban.

Only 10 of 59 tests played by Smith are against WI, SL and Ban.

And with a batting average difference of 9 , people have guts to compare them.
Click to expand...

By that logic Smith has faced likes of Yadav/ Lakmal/ Overtons while Kohli has faced Johnson/ Starc/ Hazelwood
 
90MPH said:
He's right when talking about the main format.

Smith is a run machine. He's a monster at home.

Av average of 62 after 60 matches?? That's insane.
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Kohli is below Smith in Tests. But overall, both are almost equal.

Next year when Kohli will play in SA/ Eng/ Aus/ Nz, we will have a better idea.
 
Smith is the best in tests right now but the difference in average of VK and Smith is also because Smith consistently plays on flats pitches throughout a home summer. India has been producing mixed pitches for the last three years - many turners, some swing, some uneven bounce, and then some flat.

I have no doubt Virat would have averaged 70+ at home if he had those flat pitches regularly. I mean if anyone was watching the English bowling in Perth, you wouldn't differentiate them from throw-downs. And Smith is still a sitting duck whenever the ball moves - the three tests in Ashes last time and just look at his inning in Adelaide 2nd inning. So I still don't see Smith to be outstanding among the 4.

The next year will tell us a lot more.
 
Smudger said:
The game is different when playing vs sl attack. Plus have a look at kohli's last 3 100s
100 vs sl in 2nd inn when lead was 200+ and failed when had a chance to make a100 when india were strugling at 5 down.
100 in 2nd inn after failing when needed the most .
200 sl on a pitch where pujara,vijay,mathews and chandimal scored 100s.
Now have a look at Smiths 100s
111 vs india at ranchi in testing conditions. No other batter scored a 100.
100 on a pune pich where team india barely managed 100 in both inns. Kohli got 2 chances in 2nd inn but got out for 3 odd
178 vs ind on a fine batting wicket against no 1 and no 2 bowler in their own backyard.
140 vs eng on a tough pitch when side was struggling.
239 vs eng when side was 50 for 2 trailing 403.
Fun Fact: Only 2 Smith 100s came in losing cause out of 22. 1 of them was when he was batting at no 6.
4 Kohli 100s came in losing cause

Smith avg 85 in wins(excluding current test)
Kohli avg 58 in wins
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You can slice and dice anyway you want . Testing conditions is highly subjective. IT al depends on what day of the test you bat, what kind of form the bowlers were in, whether they carry any injuries. Smith has been playing in Indian conditions for a long time. Anyone who has been part of IPL are very familiary with Indian condiitons. None of the tests were played on minefields. They were easy paced wickets. Just that Smith was in much better form than his peers. Wins/Losses. next. How many wickets Smith took in those tests he played? Bowlers win you tests.
 
Ted123 said:
21 of 63 tests played by Kohli are against WI, SL and Ban.

Only 10 of 59 tests played by Smith are against WI, SL and Ban.

And with a batting average difference of 9 , people have guts to compare them.
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Kohli is yet to lose a test versus BD and has lost 1 test vs SL(Correct me if i am wrong).Remind me how many smith has lost?
 
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Kholi is a hack who is good for driving on front foot on roads. Nothing more. Other three at least have all-round game.
 
JattMaula said:
Kholi is a hack who is good for driving on front foot on roads. Nothing more. Other three at least have all-round game.
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If a hack is ranked 2 in test, 1 in ODI and 1 in T-20, then I guess we have to simply say that hack is a better batsman than names having all-around games. All around game is meaningless if you can't produce.
 
Buffet said:
If a hack is ranked 2 in test, 1 in ODI and 1 in T-20, then I guess we have to simply say that hack is a better batsman than names having all-around games. All around game is meaningless if you can't produce.
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Wait for next 18 months and he will be out of top 10 from ODIS and tests.
 
JattMaula said:
Wait for next 18 months and he will be out of top 10 from ODIS and tests.
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Why do you need to wait for the next 18 months. I am assuming that India is touring SA, Aus, Eng and NZ in this period.

Test average in Aus - 61, SA - 68, NZ - 71, Eng - 13
ODI average in Aus - 50, SA - 45, NZ - 62, Eng - 52

Even if he does 60-70% of what he has done in all 4 venues, he won't be out of top 10 in the next 18 months in any format. Let's see if is out of the top 10 in any format by then.
 
Buffet said:
Why do you need to wait for the next 18 months. I am assuming that India is touring SA, Aus, Eng and NZ in this period.

Test average in Aus - 61, SA - 68, NZ - 71, Eng - 13
ODI average in Aus - 50, SA - 45, NZ - 62, Eng - 52

Even if he does 60-70% of what he has done in all 4 venues, he won't be out of top 10 in the next 18 months in any format. Let's see if is out of the top 10 in any format by then.
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Yep. Let's wait. This time teams will simply bowl outswingers outside off and bowling attacks are better than last tours for all the above teams barring English.
 
[MENTION=146057]Ted123[/MENTION] Your logic doesn't make sense.
England vs Australia at home = ind vs Sri at home.
If Australia played Sri/ Bangladesh away.. The average the Aussies batters average might go down
There is no argument that Smith is better than everyone in test but let's think before just typing those words.
Enjoy the game
 
Mobashir said:
That means Kohli’s recent performances are better than before?

This year he played vs Australia at home and batted like a tailender.
Then played against Sri Lanka home and away, nothing that makes you a great player.

If anything, Kohli Has prooved how much a lesser player than Smith he is.
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Gazab hai kuch log tou.

He scores against Aus away - bhai bhai bhai, pitch patta hai.

He has an ordinary series vs Aus. That counts against him, though it is a home pitch?

He scores against Eng at home - It's home re baba... how does it count?

:)))

Well it's fun to read these. End of the day it's views of experts like Ponting that have any weight though.
 
Buffet said:
Why do you need to wait for the next 18 months. I am assuming that India is touring SA, Aus, Eng and NZ in this period.

Test average in Aus - 61, SA - 68, NZ - 71, Eng - 13
ODI average in Aus - 50, SA - 45, NZ - 62, Eng - 52

Even if he does 60-70% of what he has done in all 4 venues, he won't be out of top 10 in the next 18 months in any format. Let's see if is out of the top 10 in any format by then.
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Well didnt you know pitches on those tour were flat, his runs came when India didn't win or when series was already lost.

So what if Smith is scoring runs while Australia is losing in Sri Lanka or India. His biggest plus is he isn't Kohli.
 
This home and away argument is going to ridiculous proportions. Away doesn't mean it is hard to score runs. Kumble has a 100 in England not in India. Agarkar has a 100 in England not in India. Mishra's highest score came in ENgland. Dale Steyn's highest score came at MCG against Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Siddle
 
Anuj25 said:
[MENTION=146057]Ted123[/MENTION] Your logic doesn't make sense.
<B>England vs Australia at home = ind vs Sri at home.</B>
If Australia played Sri/ Bangladesh away.. The average the Aussies batters average might go down
There is no argument that Smith is better than everyone in test but let's think before just typing those words.
Enjoy the game
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Now this is a new thing I have heard. You should atleast think before saying. Indians fans and their worshipping level for their idols is unbelievable.

Remember when England toured India with an attack of Moen and Rashid and Kohli was bashing them day and night.

What if someone else say England vs India in India= SL vs Aus in Aus? The hypocrisy level is there to be seen.
 
What Ponting expressed here is his opinion. Joe Root has flopped in the biggest cricketing match up for England, they prepare all the time for the Ashes. This is not the first time he is flopping as well. Kane Williamson is under the radar at the moment and hasn't been scoring those big hundreds. So Smith currently is way above every one in tests and Virat has been doing good over the last 2 years as well. It will be interesting to see how they stack up in 2 years from now.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
You can slice and dice anyway you want . Testing conditions is highly subjective. IT al depends on what day of the test you bat, what kind of form the bowlers were in, whether they carry any injuries. Smith has been playing in Indian conditions for a long time. Anyone who has been part of IPL are very familiary with Indian condiitons. None of the tests were played on minefields. They were easy paced wickets. Just that Smith was in much better form than his peers. Wins/Losses. next. How many wickets Smith took in those tests he played? Bowlers win you tests.
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What is your age? Have you just started watching cricker. There is a huuuuuuuuge difference in ipl and test pitches
 
Smudger said:
What is your age? Have you just started watching cricker. There is a huuuuuuuuge difference in ipl and test pitches
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Batting on foreign pitches regularly every year against same kind of home bowlers will prepare you way better than not at all having any kind of familiarity. You don't play cricket with your feet in IPL. Same bat. Same ball. If anything you will try to dominate them which will help you face them more confidently.
 
Ted123 said:
21 of 63 tests played by Kohli are against WI, SL and Ban.

Only 10 of 59 tests played by Smith are against WI, SL and Ban.

And with a batting average difference of 9 , people have guts to compare them.
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Scoring against SL in SL or Bdesh in Bdesh in test cricket is not easy, watch some cricket before putting up posts like these.
 
^ Actually Kohli averages 150 and 121 against them at home respectively but averages 43 in SL and 14 in BD over just 1 match.
 
I would argue Kane is as good as Kohli in tests but the difference in their performance in limited overs is so massive that it doesn't look a close comparison.
 
In Test matches Smith is ahead of Kohli but if you include all three formats then Kohli is far ahead of Smith
 
AamchiMumbaikar said:
Scoring against SL in SL or Bdesh in Bdesh in test cricket is not easy
Click to expand...

He doesn't score heavily against them. His stats are massively overrated. Failed vs Aus/SA at home and improved his stats with a 200 vs NZ on a dead rubber against average bowlers.

When pitches got flatter, to no surprise he started scoring massively against the likes of Moen, Rashid and Dawson, none of which are world class spinner.

It was now that the real minnow bashing started amassing an avg of 120 and 150 over a total of 4 home matches against Lankans and Bangladesh.

He was only tested first when a good spinner Lyon toured India and was nowhere to be seen in terms of runs. One can only wonder how would he have done against Yasir.

His competitors are Root and Kane not Smith.
 
Ted123 said:
He doesn't score heavily against them. His stats are massively overrated. Failed vs Aus/SA at home and improved his stats with a 200 vs NZ on a dead rubber against average bowlers.

When pitches got flatter, to no surprise he started scoring massively against the likes of Moen, Rashid and Dawson, none of which are world class spinner.

It was now that the real minnow bashing started amassing an avg of 120 and 150 over a total of 4 home matches against Lankans and Bangladesh.

He was only tested first when a good spinner Lyon toured India and was nowhere to be seen in terms of runs. One can only wonder how would he have done against Yasir.

His competitors are Root and Kane not Smith.
Click to expand...

When Mendis was troubling so many Indian batsmen only one guy other than Viru playedhim very well was Kohli. Same way he played Ajmal better than any other Indian batsman. Same against Narine. He is easily one of the best against spin. He was worried about Lyon? Funny. When you are in a bit of slump you could get out to any bowler.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
When Mendis was troubling so many Indian batsmen only one guy other than Viru playedhim very well was Kohli. Same way he played Ajmal better than any other Indian batsman. Same against Narine. He is easily one of the best against spin. He was worried about Lyon? Funny. When you are in a bit of slump you could get out to any bowler.
Click to expand...

Dont mix formats. He failed in two biggest series at home:

India vs Australia
India vs SA
 
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