Shane Warne believes Virat Kohli has a hole in his CV in Tests

The former Australian cricketer Shane Warne has opined that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli will be under pressure during overseas tours and has to replicate the same form which he displayed at home. India were near invincible side during their grand home season which began in November 2016 as only Australia came near to breaching it albeit in Tests. Steve Smith the skipper of the Aussies was prolific on the tour and amassed a lot of runs during that series as well. However, Warne feels Kohli has a hole in his CV when it comes to batting Tests as he has mediocre records in England.

There has been a lot of debate going around over the legendary status between the skippers of India and Australia. Smith has nailed it this year in the longest format with 1127 runs only behind Cheteshwar Pujara. On the other hand, Kohli has been simply brilliant across all formats as he notched three-double centuries in Tests and six hundreds in ODIs. But his Australian counterpart smashed centuries in alien conditions in India and the 29-year-old will embark on few tough tours in 2018.

Warne analyses Kohli and Smith

Shane Warne believes Steve Smith is a better batsman than Virat Kohli in the longest format only because the latter is yet to prove himself in England. “To me a great batsman has to have made a hundred in three key countries: in England, against the Duke ball on seaming and swinging pitches; in Australia, on our fast-paced, bouncy tracks; and of course, in the dust bowls of India, on pitches that spin and spit,” he wrote in his column for News Corp.

“To me, Steve Smith is the best Test batsman in the world. Virat Kohli is the best across all three formats of the game, but across five days, Steve Smith is the man. The hole in Kohli’s CV on the Test match stage is in England and the pressure is on the fiery but very likeable Indian to carry over some double-ton magic from home soil to that country when his team tours next year,” he added. Warne also believed that if Smith plays more than 100 Test matches for his country, then he might end up as one of the absolute legends in the history of the game.

“Look at him on pure numbers and since Bradman, he’s the best. If Smith keeps this form up over 100 Test matches, he will leave the game as an absolute legend and one of the all-time greats,” the Australian great concluded.