Steve Waugh picks the premier batsman in world cricket

Virat Kohli’s classy knock of 149 at Edgbaston has left the greats of the game in his awe. The way he countered the conditions and the threat of James Anderson on the second day was superb and then went on to play a magnificent inning with the tail-enders at the other end. The debate of the best batsman in the world has been shut since then and now the legendary Australian cricketer Steve Waugh has also affirmed that Kohli is the premier batsman in world cricket right now.

The former Australia skipper feels that the Indian captain has got the supreme technique to survive in any conditions across the world. He also went on to say that Kohli likes to rise to the big occasion which he did when all the eyes were on him in Birmingham.

“He (Kohli) has got the game to survive anywhere, I think he’s got the best technique of anyone in world cricket. He and AB de Villiers have got the best techniques, and AB de Villiers is not playing Test cricket so that makes him (Kohli) the stand-out player,” Waugh said while speaking to cricket.com.au.

Smith is hungriest

Steve Waugh, however, termed the banned Australian cricketer Steve Smith as the hungriest who was the at the top of ICC rankings until Virat Kohli trumped him last week. Interestingly, he also compared the Indian run-machine to Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar who used to stand up for the team when it mattered the most.

“I think Steve Smith is probably the hungriest batsman but he’s obviously not playing for 12 months, so Kohli really is the premier batsman in world cricket. And he likes the big occasion. Like (Brian) Lara and Tendulkar and (Viv) Richards and Javed Miandad, and all the great batsmen, they want the big occasion and that brings out the best in their cricket,” the 53-year-old added.

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