Former England captain Michael Vaughan on Monday (January 20) hailed Virat Kohli as the finest all-format batsman.

The long-debated topic once again came into the limelight after Australia’s Steve Smith scored 131 off 132 balls in the series-deciding third ODI against India in Bangalore on Sunday (January 19).

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In the same match, India skipper slammed 89 off 91 balls to help his team overhaul the target of 287 in 47.3 overs with seven wickets in hand.  

Replying to a tweet which reads former Aussie skipper Smith is the finest all-format batsman, Vaughan wrote: “Disagree ... Virat is the best all round ... !!”

Vaughan’s choice is justified as well given that Virat is a monster across all formats. The Indian captain has already aggregated 70 international hundreds and is the only batsman in the world to boast an average of above 50 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is.

Kohli, who holds the top spot in ICC Test and ODI batting rankings, averages a mind-boggling 59.85 in the 50-over format from 245 games with 11792 runs while his T20I average reads 52.72 in 78 matches with 2689 runs.

In the traditional format, Virat has scored 7202 runs at an outstanding average of 54.97 from 84 Tests so far. He has 27 Test tons to his name with 7 of them being double.

On the other hand, Smith has particularly dominated the red-ball cricket. In 73 Tests, the Australian has amassed 7227 runs at an average of 62.84 with 26 centuries. He has 4039 ODI runs to his name from 121 games with 9 hundreds. While Smith averages 42.96 in the 50-over format, he averages only 27.47 in the shortest format.