Have immense admiration for ‘phenomenal’ Virat Kohli, states Steve Smith
Australia’s Steve Smith heaped praise on Virat Kohli and stated that he admires the Indian skipper for the way he chases in ODI cricket and branded his chasing ability ‘phenomenal’. Furthermore, Smith admitted that Australia will face an astronomical challenge when they face India in December.
Aside from establishing himself as one of the greatest white-ball cricketers to have walked on to a cricket field, Virat Kohli, in his 12-year ODI career, has asserted himself as the greatest ‘chaser’ to have ever played the game. The Indian skipper has remarkably scored over 7000 runs whilst chasing in ODI cricket, scoring 26 tons and averaging close to 70, and the average astonishingly increases to a scarcely believable 96.21 in ‘winning chases’.
These inhuman numbers have seen Kohli universally be acclaimed as the best white-ball batsman of his generation and full of praise for the Indian skipper was none other than his fierce rival Steve Smith. Smith, who has widely been regarded as the best Test batsman since Don Bradman, stated that he admired Kohli for his attitude and the way he approaches the game and admitted that the Indian’s numbers whilst chasing are simply phenomenal.
"The one thing I admire about him is the way he chases in white-ball cricket. You look at his average in winning chases in ODIs and it is simply phenomenal," Smith told Sony Ten pit stop on Facebook, reported TOI.
"I admire Virat (Kohli) a lot, he is an amazing player. You look at his record now... simply incredible. He has done so much for India in cricket. You know the way they play the game now and the sheer passion he has got for Indian cricket.
"His willingness to improve and get better. His body seems to have transformed over time and he looks so fit and powerful.”
Having marked his comeback to Test cricket in style in Ashes 2019, Smith, who missed the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India due to a ball-tampering ban, is set to be an invaluable addition to the Aussie side in their series against India, with him averaging 84 against the sub-continent side across 10 Tests against them in his career. However, the 30-year-old is also wary of the challenge Virat Kohli’s men will pose Down Under and admitted that the Aussies are in for an extremely tough outing later in the year when they will gear up to face India in a four-Test series starting December 3.
"Plenty of challenges I think because India are an incredible team. Their batting line-up is so strong. Virat... (Cheteshwar) Pujara last time here was immovable... (Ajinkya) Rahane a quality Test player. Then they have got KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. They have got batters everywhere.
"They have got a great batting line-up to go with a strong bowling line-up. They have got (Mohammad) Shami and (Jasprit) Bumrah...Ishant Sharma has been here plenty of times as well. So a well rounded team and it is going to be a terrific series this summer that's for sure."
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