Viv Richards vs steve smith

[govinda indian fan]

Yeah sure, doesn't change the fact in a year he'd be losing threads to Root and Sangakkara, forget Smith. Overall, Smith's side is almost as dismissive of arguments against Smith as any fanbase possibly could be.

Smith's base is equally rabid

 

[Kirkut]

Viv was great batsmen who inspired cricketers across world. Even great sachin idolized viv. Viv might not have or have not been batsmen he was talked upon but he was a cricketer whose impact on majority of fans, players and pundits is unmatched except for bradman

OK, by that logic no batsman will ever match or better Viv since they will not be able to "inspire cricketers across the world" or have an "impact on fans, players and pundits"

 

[Johan]

Smith's base is equally rabid

Yeah it's funny how Smith became more overrated in 15 years than Viv managed in 50

 

[centurymaker]

tbf both those guys did similar things, Smith had one huge series but Root has constantly made runs whenever purely focused on batting.

This.

Ashwin had enough success vs Smith in recent series.

2020- Smith 64 runs, 3 dismissals (Avg 21.33)
2023 - Smith 24 runs, 2 dismissals (Avg 12)

Smith had that series in his peak, though things also went his way. Root has been more consistent overall and imo has looked more assured against Indian spinners particularly Ashwin. So I am not surprised that Ashwin rates Root higher.

 

[centurymaker]

Root actually made runs against bumrah in 2021 series while smith struggled to just survive vs him. Ofcourse root struggled in 24 series but not as much as smith

In BGT Smith has two hundreds but do note that more than half of his runs were against the likes of Reddy, Jadeja (who was terrible all series in graveyard conditions for spinners). So Smith made the most of it against India's 4th and 5th bowling options which is what good players do. But he did struggle against Akash Deep big time. And only looked to play out Bumrah (which was a good idea). So in his two hundreds, Smith doesn't have much runs vs Bumrah. So if we were to do a head to head average of Smith & Bumrah from the BGT, the avg would between 15 and 20.
@PlayerComparisons

 

[centurymaker]

Not saying its underrated but would take his own 2017 bgt over it

2019 Ashes performance was much better.