There is always a debate and comparison going between the Indian captain Virat Kohli and Australia’s star batsman Steve Smith, two of the most consistent performers in all three formats of the game. It gets difficult to pick anyone when it comes to choosing the best batsman in the world in all three formats of the game.
However, the former England captain Micheal Vaughan has no doubts as he picked Kohli as the current best batsman in the world. The debate started right after Smith scored a brilliant hundred in the third ODI against India, which ended as a losing cause. He scored 131 off 132 balls, but the Indian captain replied equally well as he scored 89 along with Rohit Sharma’s brilliant 119, which helped India to seal the series comfortably in the end.
The two knocks on the same day brought the comparison alive again on social media and Vaughan didn’t shy away to take a part on it. After Smith’s hundred in the third ODI, a tweet from Daniel Alexander came, which says “Steve Smith finest all-format batsman at present. proved it yet again.”
In reply to it, Vaughan disagreed and made it clear that Kohli is the current best in all three formats of the game.
“Disagree … Virat is the best all round,” he said.
Disagree … Virat is the best all round … !! https://t.co/zJPt7v8ewS
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 20, 2020
Kohli is currently the number one ODI batsman in the world with 886 points and he continued to perform at his best in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif criticized Smith for playing a slow inning in the series decider against India.
“One has to give credit to Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah for their efforts in the death overs. 80 balls for 80 chalte hain, but when you score 131, you need to do it in 100 or 105 balls. Smith’s inability to accelerate and his slow partnership forced Australia to promote Mitchell Starc as a pinch hitter,” he said.
Australia managed to score 286 runs with the loss of 9 wickets. In reply, the men in blue chased it down comfortably by 7 wickets and in 47.3 overs. Rohit was named man of the match for his remarkable knock of 119 from 128.
