Steve Smith, ‘Player of the Series’ for Australia in the 2019 Ashes, became the highest run-scorer in a single Test series in the 21st century, amassing a mammoth 774 runs against the hosts England. He scored these runs at a sensational average of 110.57, which was way ahead of any other batsmen in the series.
The world number one Test batsman was in phenomenal form during the Ashes, scoring three hundreds, including one double ton, in the four Tests.
But when former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes was asked to choose between Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, the 50-year-old picked the Indian captain as the best batsman in world cricket right now.
“I enjoy watching Virat Kohli. Steve Smith, with that action and technique, makes the ugliest hundreds I have ever seen but the man just keeps scoring runs.”
“Someone who likes to watch cricket would want to say ‘Wow! What an amazing shot’ as opposed to ‘Oh! How on earth can he hit that?’ So Virat Kohli right now,” Rhodes, who was in India as the ambassador for the Covelong festival, told Indian Express during an interaction.
Further, when Rhodes was asked to pick one between Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah, he said: “It depends on what you want to do. If you want to knock people down at the start of the game then Rabada, but if you are looking to defend, then Bumrah as he is a specialist.”