Smith v Kohli (test match batting)

[ZK$]

The Kohli who has barely played a Test knock of significance in three years? That Kohli?

Yes. His form over the past three years is what makes it close.

Shane Watson agrees with me so I know I’m right.

 

[Everton Seymour]

Yes. His form over the past three years is what makes it close.

Shane Watson agrees with me so I know I’m right.

It's more than form though , it's a decline of Hashim Amla level proportions ..

Since 2020 Virat Kohli has played 17 Tests with 0 hundreds at an average of 27.25

 

[Everton Seymour]

Then you've got a Joe Root who averages more in England than away from it so England being "pretty bowler friendly" hasn't really been a factor there

Unless you can demonstrate that a player has a big discrepancy between home and away performances then, effectively, home conditions don't have much of an influence on average at all
[/QUOTE]


Then you have Dean Elgar who averages 47 in tough SA conditions but 29 away from home lol

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Then you have Dean Elgar who averages 47 in tough SA conditions but 29 away from home lol

Opposite to Stephen Fleming:
34 at home and 46 away

 

[TheJediBrah]

It's more than form though , it's a decline of Hashim Amla level proportions ..

Since 2020 Virat Kohli has played 17 Tests with 0 hundreds at an average of 27.25

Even before this Kohli was a level below Smith

 

[Burgey]

Indeed he was. Terrific player but the gap was still substantial between them.

 

[ZK$]

Hashim Amla’s decline was sad to watch. I wish he retired a bit earlier.

 

[Bitmap]

IG the 2017 BG series was the one where Smith separated himself from the rest.

 

[honestbharani]

I actually expect Virat to close the gap with Smith by quite a bit.

Its very Lara Vs Sachin between these two IMO.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Kohli is only ranked no 12 in the world and dropping.

 

[Daemon]

Kohli doesn't even average 50 in Tests anymore. His last 3 years have done considerable damage and gone some way in losing us games.

 

[Zinzan]

The only of the original fab 4 even close to Smith at Test level is Root, and Smith is clearly ahead.

The other two aren't even in the conversation anymore.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I actually expect Virat to close the gap with Smith by quite a bit.

He's closing the gap with Devon Smith

 

[ZK$]

He's closing the gap with Devon Smith

I think he’s referring to Graeme Smith.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

He's closing the gap with Devon Smith

Better batter than Devon, but worse than Ian atm.

 

[harsh.ag]

Kohli is coming back in tests pretty sure. Hope Smith does too.

 

[Spark]

The thing about Smith is that no one thinks he's anywhere near his peak form but he's still putting up consistent performance that for literally any other batsman would be completely fine. He's contributing to Test and series wins and puts up reasonable scores regularly without going missing for long stretches. It's only relative the peak form of the absolute top-tier non-Bradman ATGs that the decline is evident.

Like it would obviously be much much better if he started scoring at >50 SR and converting more of these 80s into 150s again but it's not a huge problem or anything, it's just mildly underwhelming (and, if we're being totally honest, really dull to watch, which was not the case with pre-2020 Smith)

 

[ankitj]

The thread that killed Kohli's test match batting.

 

[_00_deathscar]

The thread that killed Kohli's test match batting.

Pretty sure it was constantly prodding outside off.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Pretty sure it was constantly prodding outside off.

Instead of prodding he should just bat like he does in T20s and bop them over long on for 6