Shane Warne gives his take on the Virat Kohli-Steve Smith debate

Virat Kohli’s comparison with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar has been going on for a long time now. Lately, the Indian skipper has been a part of another debate, regarding who among him and Steve Smith is a better batsman. Last month, Smith made his Test comeback after 16 months and after four innings, the Sydney-born already is the leading run-scorer this year.

Smith is plying his trade in the Ashes and has notched 589 runs in four innings at a gigantic average of 147.25. Following his first three innings, he also moved from fourth to the top spot in ICC’s Test rankings for batsmen, surpassing Kohli. He missed the third Test due to concussion, but came back to notch 211 runs against England at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester.

He left the ground to a round of applause. In the meantime, Shane Warne, the Australian spin wizard, made his pick between Virat and Smith. The veteran found it tough to zero in on one, but eventually went with Smith in the longest format. He also called Virat a legend.

Virat Kohli overtakes Viv for me, says Warne

“As far as Test cricket goes, I would probably say it is a really tough one between Virat and Smith. But I think if I had to pick one batsman in Test cricket, it would be Smith, but if I lost that and had Virat, I would still be happy because he is a legend,” Warne was quoted as saying in Times Now.

However, Warne also reckons that Virat is the best batsman in the world. Warne said that he would go with the Indian cricketer if asked to pick one batter across all the formats. As per Warne, Virat also transcends the dynamic Sir Vivian Richards, who played at a strike-rate of over 90 in an era when run-scoring wasn’t all that easy.

“I think Virat is the best batsman in the world. I think if I had to pick one batsman across all formats, it would have to be Virat. Viv Richards was the greatest batsman I saw in ODI cricket and in all cricket probably. But Virat is now the greatest ODI player that we have seen. He overtakes Viv for me,” Warne, who’s part of the commentary panel in the Ashes, mentioned.

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