ISLAMABAD – Virat Kohli and Mohammad Amirlink>havebeen quite open about their mutual respect and admiration. The Indianskipper had even described the Pakistani left-arm pacer as “one of thetoughest bowlers I have played in my career”link>.
Responding to Kohli’s remarks at the time, Amir had said he was flooredwith the India captain’s assessment of his bowling and called Kohli “thebest”link>.However, in his latest interview, Amir has revealed that disgracedAustralian cricketer Steve Smith is in fact the toughest batsman to bowl to.
When asked who is the most difficult batsman to bowl to in the current era?Amir, in a rapid-fire interview with *ESPNCricinfo*link>, said: “StevenSmith”.
While Smith, who was banned by Cricket Australialink>for12 months for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, hasbeen head and shoulders above the rest in Test cricket, there is no playerthat comes close to Kohli’s scoring spree in the limited overs formats.
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In 64 Tests, Smith has scored 6,199 runs at an average of 61.38 with 23centuries to his name. Virat Kohli, in comparison, has played 66 Tests,scoring 5,554 runs at an average of 53.4 with 21 hundreds in his kitty.
However, in ODIs and T20Is, Kohli is light years ahead of Smith. The Indianskipper has played 208 ODIs, scoring a whopping 9,588 runs at an average of58.11 with 35 centuries to his name. In T20Is, Kohli is yet to hit acentury but that has not stopped him from plundering 2,012 runs in 60matcheslink>atan average of 49.07.
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Smith’s limited-over stats provide a pale reading when compared to Kohli’s.The former Australia captain has scored 3,431 runs in 108 ODIs at anaverage of 41.84 with just eight hundreds.
Smith has scored just 431 runs in 30 T20Is at a poor average of 21.55.