The highly-anticipated Test series between India and Australia finally got underway in Nagpur on Thursday (February 9). The series is essential in determining the top two spots in the World Test Championship.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 is likely to throw a healthy competition between two contemporary batting legends – Virat Kohli and Steve Smith.
Kohli loves the rivalry against Australia and he is expected to end his long-standing Test century drought in the four-match series. In 20 Tests and 36 innings, Virat has aggregated 1,682 versus Australia at an average of 48.05 with seven hundreds and five half-centuries.
On the other hand, Smith will look to carry his dominance in the longest format. He has 1742 Test runs to his name from 14 Tests against India at an incredible average of 72.58, including eight centuries.
Ahead of the series opener, Smith interacted with Hindustan Times and dismissed the claims that there is a sense of competition between him and Kohli.
“No, I don't think so. I'm not sure whether he thinks there is or not. I'm not entirely sure that I certainly feel like. We just go out and play the game and try and do the best for our team. Yeah, hopefully, score some runs along the way to help us have success. That's the main goal for me. I don't feel like I'm batting against anyone or anything like that and trying to compare myself to any other batters. I just wanna go out there and do my job and hopefully help the team have success,” Steve Smith stated.
While Smith lauded Kohli for his stunning exploits over the years, he hoped that the star India batter doesn't score too many against them in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“I think the way he's able to take the bowlers on, really put them under pressure. I think that's a huge strength of his. He scored runs all around the world. His ability is to score both sides of the wicket. He's patient when he needs to be and he's been an amazing player for a very long time in all formats of the game. So, hopefully for us, this series, he doesn't score too many. But you know, when he gets going, he is one of the best batters to watch in the world,” he added.
