Pakistan batting legend Zaheer Abbas on Tuesday (April 14) hailed Australia’s Steve Smith as the best Test batsman in the world before acknowledging that India skipper Virat Kohli is unparalleled across all formats.
"Steve Smith is more consistent than Kohli in Test cricket. He scores in almost every series he plays. Even the other Australian — David Warner — has been doing well.
"But as I said, a batsman needs to perform in all formats and in that sense, Kohli is more consistent in the other versions as well," he told The Telegraph.
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Abbas’ opinion is quite fair considering the fact that Kohli is the only batsman in the world who averages above 50 in all three formats with 70 international centuries. While Smith averages almost 63 in Tests, he is still far behind the Indian captain in ODIs and T20Is with averages of 42.46 and 29.60 respectively.
"Just look at what Kohli has achieved over the years Also, he is not a machine. Even a machine sometimes mal-functions. At this moment, there aren’t many who can parallel Kohli," Abbas further said in praise of Virat, before lauding his countryman Babar Azam’s brilliance.
"Babar has been the most consistent batsman for Pakistan, having performed in all formats. I just hope he keeps on scoring and scales bigger heights," he said.
On a different note, Zaheer Abbas believes it is unfair to compare cricketers of different eras due to the continuous evolution in the game of Cricket. He also doesn’t like terming a player an all-time great.
"So from that perspective, I don’t think you can call anyone as an all-time great player. This kind of comparison is not fair,” Abbas opined.
"If you want to establish yourself as the top batsman in world cricket, you have to be consistent in all formats. That’s fundamental.
"Waise bhi bahut hi zyaada cricket khelte hai Indian team (In any case, the Indian team plays too much of cricket). A top player like Kohli too is a part of most of those matches, and he can’t get bored too because that’s his profession and has given him so much.”
