Steve Smith vs Virat Kohli: The better Test batsman

#5. Contribution in a winning cause

Smith has had a greater impact in winning a test as compared to Virat Kohli.

The most important goal for any batsman is to ensure that his contribution results in a win for his side. At the international level, the very best of batsmen distinguish themselves with their ability to produce match-winning performances. Let us see how Smith and Kohli perform in this regard.

Virat Kohli has scored 3736 runs in a winning cause, which translates to a percentage of 52.87%. Also, out of his 26 Test hundreds, 12 have come in a winning cause. Steven Smith has scored 4201 out of his 6973 runs in Tests in a winning cause, which translates to a percentage of 60.25. Also, as many as 18 out of Smith's 26 Test hundreds have come in a winning cause.

So, we can see from the above that Smith has had a greater impact in winning Tests as compared to Virat Kohli.

Conclusion

Steve Smith and Virat Kohli are two of the greatest Test batsmen of the modern era. But, at this moment, Smith seems to be ahead of Kohli in the longest format. His away average in different countries is much higher than Kohli, he has a better Man of the Match ratio as compared to Kohli, and his contribution to his side’s win is much higher than that of Kohli’s.

One place where Kohli does better than Smith is his record in the fourth innings of a Test match, where his average of 49.78 is much higher than Smith’s average of just 30.68.

The two players are the greatest of the modern era in Tests, but Smith seems to be ahead of Kohli at the moment.