Cricket experts pick the current best batsman in Tests and across all three formats

For the last few years, there have been a lot of debates on the best batsman of this generation. While some have given their opinion for Virat Kohli, others have stuck by Steve Smith. So, Aakash Chopra, the cricketer turned commentator decided to get four of his cricket expert friends to decide who is the best batsman of this era.

The four members in the panel are Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Harsha Bhogle and Anjum Chopra. Aakash Chopra did this discussion with the experts and uploaded it in his latest YouTube video. The first topic of discussion was the best format in all the formats.

Experts make their pick on the best batsman across all formats

During this discussion, all the experts seem to have the opinion that Virat Kohli leads Steve Smith by quite a margin. Harsha Bhogle interestingly pointed out that the Indian captain has an average above 50 in all the three formats of the game. Kohli averages 53.63, 59.34 and 50.8 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. There is no other batsman in the world currently who has that sort of a record.

However, former Indian pacer Nehra had an extra opinion to add. He said, “Rohit Sharma can also be an all-format star. Since the time, he has opened the innings, he has shown what he is capable of doing batting at that number. Previously, the team management wasn’t giving him the opening slot. Now that, he has got that, I think he will score loads of runs.”

Nehra’s observation is quite accurate. 2019 was a year when Sharma took the bowlers to the cleaners in all three formats. In T20Is and ODIs, the opening batsman had already garnered a lot of success. However, his Test numbers also improved immensely after a great debut series as an opener against South Africa. He got three centuries in that three-match Test series which included a double century in the last Test as well.

The best Test batsman?

However, the experts had a different opinion when it came to choosing the current best Test batsman. Harsha Bhogle, RP Singh and Ashish Nehra agreed that Smith has done better in Tests. They pointed out some of the knocks of Smith in which he had single-handedly won Australia many matches. They did pinpoint at the comeback Test of Smith last year in Edgbaston where he scored twin hundreds in the first Ashes Test. Anjum Chopra though rated Kohli as a better batsman in Tests.

The numbers of Smith is actually better than Kohli in Tests. While the Australian falls behind the race in the limited-overs format, his numbers reach the sky once the red-ball cricket kicks in. He averages (62.8) is much higher than Kohli in Tests.

Watch the video