Virat Kohli ignored as Ricky Ponting hails Steve Smith as “Best player” of this generation

by · Inside Sport India

Steve Smith notched up his 35th Test ton and went on to cross 10000 runs in the red ball format

Australian Cricketer Steve Smith grabbed the headlines as he went on to reach a special milestone of not having reached to 10,000 runs in Test cricket. After his brilliant knock at Galle, praises flew in. And former Australia captain Ricky Ponting went on to claim that Smith is the best player of the generation. What is more interesting is that he completely ignored Virat Kohli‘s name when comparing it with the Fab 4.

Steve Smith then converted his score to his 35th Test century and became the 4th Australian to reach the 5-digit score in the longest format of the game.

Steve Smith the bets player of this generation?

“Is he the best player of his generation? It’s hard to argue against it. Joe Root is the other one now, and [Kane] Williamson’s record is outstanding as well. Joe’s last couple of years have elevated him right back up there, I think,” Ponting was quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald.

Ricky Ponting drew parallels with England’s Joe Root and claimed Kane Williamson’s record is outstanding as well. But the name that was ignored was India’s Virat Kohli. Ponting further added, that out of the big four, a couple of years back, it was Kohli who was leading the charts.

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“Five or six years ago, when this big four emerged, with [Virat] Kohli being one of those as well, Joe was probably down near the bottom part of that because he hadn’t made the hundreds the other guys had made, but he’s made 19 hundreds in the past four years,” he added.

Ponting further added that it will be very hard to ignore the stats and the feats that Steve Smith has achieved over the years, and thus stands by his point.

“If you asked an Englishman they’d say Joe Root, if you asked an Aussie they’d say Steve Smith, and if you asked a Kiwi they’d say Kane Williamson. So it’s a tough one, but on the numbers themselves it’s pretty hard to argue against what he’s done,” said Ponting.