5 players who have better international than domestic records

Cricketers have to perform incredibly well in domestic cricket to stand any chance of getting selected for the national team. The opposition is also usually easier to handle in domestic cricket than in international cricket. Moreover, cricketers play a far higher number of games for domestic sides than for the national team.

Therefore, it is very rare to come across players who have better records in international cricket than in domestic.

Here is a look at five of these rare exceptions.

#5 James Faulkner

Australian all-rounder James Faulkner started off as a bowler, but went on to become a dangerous lower order batsman who could hit some of the best bowlers in the world out of the ground. Until a year or so ago, he was an integral part of the limited-overs setup of the national team.

Although he has scored more runs in List A cricket, his ODI average of 34.40 trumps his domestic average of 30.25. However, a starker difference is seen in the strike rates - in ODIs for the national team, Faulkner has hit 104.24 runs per 100 balls, and 91.45 in domestic ODIs.

He evidently scores quicker in ODIs than in domestic cricket.

#4 M. S. Dhoni

Dhoni's presence in the list is expected

M. S. Dhoni is one of the modern-day greats of the game. In a Test career that lasted over nine years, he became one of the world's foremost wicketkeeper-batsmen, and provided India with a lower-middle order muscle that the team never enjoyed in the past.

Dhoni has also been one of the pillars of the first-class teams that he has represented over the years, but his average in international cricket is higher.

In 131 first-class games, he averages 36.84, but in Test cricket, his average is 38.09 in the 90 matches that he has played.

#3 Virat Kohli

Kohli has a better batting average in international than domestic cricket

As far as ODI batsmanship is concerned, Virat Kohli stands above all his contemporaries. His stupendous records have already made him one of the all-time greats, with regular comparisons to Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Viv Richards coming his way.

Kohli averages an outstanding 55.74 in ODI cricket in 202 games, as opposed to 54.54 in List A cricket, in which he has played 236 games. His strike rate of 91.73 is only marginally lower than his List A strike rate of 92.02.

It is fair to assume that as he plays more ODIs, he will eventually set that right as well.

In T20Is, he averages a staggering 52.91 which is much more than his T20 average of 40.72. His T20I strike rate is also marginally better than his overall T20 strike rate.

#2 Steve Smith

Smith is the current No. 1 batsman in Test cricket

The Australian captain is one of the finest batsmen of all time. In Test cricket, he is the best in the world, especially considering his record over the past two years.

Despite being an absolute colossus in first-class cricket, his outstanding run-scoring abilities as a Test player have surpassed his domestic cricket records.

In 107 first-class games, Smith averages 56.33, but in Test cricket, he averages 59.66. In the years to come, that gap could well rise if he does not play as much first-class cricket.

#1 Virender Sehwag

This unique batsman's feature in this list should come as no surprise

Sehwag was one of Test cricket's revolutionary openers, and his performances in ODIs were no less impressive.

His averages in both Test and ODI matches are higher than his respective domestic averages. In Test cricket, he averaged 49.34, while the corresponding figure in first-class cricket was 47.36. In 251 ODIs, he recorded an average of 35.05, as opposed to his List A average of 34.44.