Melbourne: Spin legend Shane Warne has rated
Steve Smith as a better Test batsman than India captain Virat
Kohli, saying when it comes to five day game the Australia
skipper "is the man".
Warne has listed his top 11 batsmen from those he has
either seen or played with or against.
On the list, Smith shares the 10th spot along with Kohli,
though Warne feels the Australian just outsmarted his India
contemporary when it comes for Test cricket.
"To me Steve Smith is the best Test batsman in the
world," he wrote in his News Corp column.
"Virat Kohli is the best across all three formats of the
game, but across five days, Steve Smith is the man."
Warne has high regards for Kohli's batsmanship but feels
the only blip in the Indian captain's glorious career so far
is his failure to score big in English conditions.
Kohli's dismal tour of England in 2014 was the reason
behind Warne's assesment. On the contrary, Smith has made
three away Ashes hundreds and averages 43.31 in the UK.
"I don't assess greatness by stats, but rather by the way
someone played the game, the way they influenced results and
the impact they had on all of us," he wrote.
"To me a great batsman has to have made a hundred in
three key countries: in England, against the Duke ball on
seaming and swinging pitches; in Australia, on our fast-paced,
bouncy tracks; and of course, in the dust bowls of India, on
pitches that spin and spit," added Warne, who played 145 Tests
for Australia between 1992 and 2007.
"The hole in Kohli's CV on the Test match stage is in
England and the pressure is on the fiery but very likeable
Indian to carry over some double-ton magic from home soil to
that country when his team tours next year."
In the list, Warne has placed West Indian legends Viv
Richards and Brian Lara at the first and second positions
respectively, while Sachin Tendulkar is placed third.
Next on his list are three Australians in Greg Chappell,
Ricky Ponting and Allan Border, followed by South Africans
Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers at seven and nine
respectively.
Graham Gooch is the lone Englishman in the list at number
eight.
Smith and Kohli complete the top 11.
PTI
