Internet Desk: This year 2017, can easily be called a year to remember of this decade so far. Among many battles in sports the rivalry between Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and Australia skipper Steve Smith to score runs have been in talks among the cricket fanatics.
At the very end of the ongoing year, we will discuss who really ruled in all three formats of the game among these two.
Tests:
Virat Kohli: The run machine has broken many records in this year. Among them, his 50th international century was the most talking point among the cricket pundits as he is only behind his former teammate legendary Sachin Tendulkar who has century of centuries. Kohli has shown everyone that why he has been regarded as one of the best batsman in the world. The lad from Delhi has scored 1059 runs in 10 matches with a sensational average of 75.64. He has 5 centuries and a half-century under his belt too.
Steve Smith: The Aussie skipper has been so far the best batsman for the team. A few days ago, the International Cricket Council (ICC) released its latest Test rankings for batsmen that showed Steve Smith had reached a tally of 945 points to take joint-second position in the all-time list, along with Len Hutton. He went very close to legendary Don Bradman’s highest-ever ranking points which were 961. The Aussie skipper’s current average in Test cricket is 62.32 which is second to Don Bradman’s world record of 99.94. Ahead of the fourth Ashes Test against England in this season Smith has scored more runs than the Indian cricket team captain as he has scored 1203 runs in 11 matches with an astonishing average of 70.76. Beside the Aussie skipper has 5 centuries and 3 half-centuries as well. One can definitely say though Kohli has a better average than Smith in the longer format of the game but Smith has scored more runs than the Indian captain and he has also done that on tracks which helped the fast bowlers a lot.
ODIs:
Virat Kohli: The chase master has an astonishing record in the limited overs in the limited overs format as he has scored 1460 runs in 26 matches with an average of 76.84 which is remarkable in these days. His best score was 131 this year and he has helped the Men in Blue to win many matches while chasing.
Steve Smith: Smith on the other hand has played 13 ODI so far this year where he scored 449 runs with an average of 44.90 and his highest score was 108 not out. The record shows that, Kohli is way ahead than Smith is the limited overs format as he has more than a thousand runs compared to the Aussie skipper and his average with the bat is astonishing too.
T20Is:
Here we can’t compare the two best batsmen of the modern day cricket as Steve Smith didn’t play any T20I game, in the mean time Kohli was a part of 10 matches where he scored 299 runs with an average of 37.37. The strike rate of 152.55 with the bat shows that the India skipper is nothing but a run machine and he would break all the records in the coming years.