Steve Smith or Virat Kohli? Ricky Ponting weighs in on best batsman debate
Perth: While the oppositions are doing their best, they are still struggling to find a formula to slow down Steve Smith and Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper recently became the captain to score most number of double hundreds while his Australian counterpart, Smith, notched up his 22nd Test hundred to push his team towards a historic Ashes win in the third Test in Perth.
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The duo of Kohli and Smith, alongside England’s Joe Root and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, are often termed as four of the finest batsmen of the modern era. However, the way Kohli and Smith are currently performing and breaking records at will, it seems the two are in a different league, if Ricky Ponting is to be believed.
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The former Australian skipper, who is currently on the commentary duties in the ongoing Ashes, had his take on who is one of the finest batsmen going around.
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“You look at the other better players in the world; Virat Kohli is on a pretty high pedestal but then you look at Joe Root and Kane Williamson, as far as I’m concerned those guys are nowhere near as good as Steven Smith and I’ve said that for a long time,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
The three-time World Cup winning player further added that England players came to him seeking advice on how to get Smith out.
Ponting also revealed that England cricketers approached him, asking him for tips to get Smith out.
“I even had England players come to me this morning saying ‘Just give us something on Smith. What are we going to bowl to Smith?’. And I said, ‘Look, one, I’m not going to tell you. And two, I don’t know anyway because it seems like he’s got every base covered’,” said the three-time World Cup-winning cricketer.
