Sreesanth brags about dismissing Steve Smith in the past, calls Virat Kohli the 'best'

India captain Virat Kohli and former Australia captain Steve Smith are arguably two of the best batsmen in the world at the moment. Over the years, both batsmen have set a plethora of records and have enthralled the cricketing community with their batting. The rivalry of Kohli vs Smith has quickly stood up to the stature of the Sachin Tendulkar vs Brian Lara rivalry of the 90s and 2000s.

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Sreesanth reckons Virat Kohli has carried Indian cricket on his shoulders, eager to uproot Steve Smith's middle stump

There's a constant debate which has divided the cricketing community as to who is the better batsman between the two players. Now, India cricketer Sreesanth has had his say on the never-ending debate. The right-arm pacer has picked Virat Kohli as the better batsman among the two. While speaking to CricTracker, Sreesanth replied that he would like to castle Steve Smith. Sreesanth said he is just waiting for his comeback so that he can uproot Steve Smith’s middle stump and say ‘Thank You, Smith’.

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Sreesanth further mentioned that he would pick Virat Kohli any day because of his exceptional work ethic and also went on to add that the RCB skipper has carried the Indian cricket on his shoulders in the last few years. He further said that being No. 1 for so many days is incredible. However, the Kerala pacer also lauded Steve Smith for working extremely hard from being a leg-spinner to the pure batsman. Sreesanth also said that there should be no comparison between the two as they have done extremely well at the highest level.

Interestingly, Sreesanth also claimed that he has got Steve Smith out before but is yet to dismiss Virat Kohli at any level. Sreesanth has a knack of getting charged up while playing against Australia and he had got an opportunity to play in a three-day practice game against them in 2010 in Chandigarh. Steve Smith, who had batted at No. 7, then was trapped in front of the stumps by Sreesanth for just 5 runs.

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Kohli vs Smith rivalry

While both the players started out in the late 2000s, Smith turned into a proper batsman from a leg-spinner, taking time to establish himself in all three formats of the game. However, Kohli began by excelling in white-ball cricket until he translated that form in Tests since taking over as India's captain in 2015.

Steve Smith is currently at the pinnacle of ICC rankings for batsmen in Tests followed by Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper is No.1-ranked batsman in ODIs and he finds himself at No.10 in T20Is. Virat Kohli averages over close to 60 in ODIs with 43 hundred and 11,867 runs. In Tests, he has 7,240 runs in 83 matches with 27 hundreds.

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IMAGE COURTESY: PTI/TWITTER