Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes India captain Virat Kohli is currently the best batsman in the world only because Steve Smith is serving a year-long ban for his role in ball tampering at a Cape Town Test.
Asked who is the number one batsman in the world, Ponting said: “Right now, he (Kohli) is because Steve Smith is not there. (But) if Steve Smith was playing now, I’d have him as the number one player in the world,” he said at Channel Seven’s cricket season launch.
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Ponting is of the view that Smith’s golden run during the latest Ashes series, which yielded 687 runs and three tons at a mind-boggling average of 137.40, separated him from the current pack, meaning Kohli is only the best by default. “Right now, he (Kohli) is because Steve Smith is not there,” Ponting said.
“(But) if Steve Smith was playing now, I’d have him as the number one player in the world.
“That’s how high in regard I hold Steve Smith – what he’s done the last three or four years with his game and (he’s been) able to lead an Australian team to so many wins the way he has (batted).
“The Ashes summer last year was just some of the best and purest batting as you’re ever going to see. To do it on the big stage in an Ashes series, and to do it on the first day of an Ashes series when it counts the most, says a lot about him,” Ponting said.
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