What’s the story?
Former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting, stated that Virat Kohli is the best batsman in the world. The 42-year-old went on to add that his former teammate and current captain of the Aussie team, Steven Smith, is not at that level yet.
“Is he the best batsman in the world? Yeah, he probably is. I thought he was six or seven months ago and he has taken it to another level since then,” Ponting said in an interview in Abu Dhabi.
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Kohli’s fearless captaincy and aggressive batting were instrumental in the series victory against England. In the Test series, Kohli amassed 655 runs at 109.16 in the eight innings in what was a scintillating display of batsmanship.
The heart of the matter
The new Indian captain had an outstanding 2016 and took the team to new heights. However, currently, Australian skipper Smith is at the summit of the Test rankings and Kohli is stationed at the 2nd position.
Ponting, however, affirms that Virat is a better ODI batsman and the rankings prove his point; Kohli is in the 3rd position while the Aussie batsman is in the 8th position in the ODI rankings for batsmen. The RCB batsman is also ranked No. 1 in the T20 format.
Also read: Virat Kohli setting great example for all of us to raise our bar, says Murali Vijay
‘Punter’ also added that although it might be a little too soon to call Virat the best, his one-day record of 27 hundreds in 177 one-day internationals speaks for itself. Kohli is currently fourth on the list of batsmen with the most hundreds but still has quite a few years of top level cricket left.
The former Australian skipper also gave his views on the upcoming series between India and Australia stating that the Aussie bowlers have got to take Kohli out of his comfort zone early in order to get his wicket.
What’s next?
India host Bangladesh in a one-off Test before welcoming the Aussies. Kohli will look to continue his fine run of form in the upcoming series to well and truly cement his place as one of the best batsmen in the modern era.
Sportskeeda take
The cricketing world is being dominated by batsmen like Steve Smith, Joe Root, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, and to decide which player is the best batsman in the world is a tough task. Each has their own skill set suited for different conditions and while Kohli has shown that he is by far the most superior in the shorter formats of the game, Root and co. are not that far behind.
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