One of the most anticipated series in cricket is just a few days away, but there is already a lot of hype created and apart from players, many experts and former cricketers of both the sides have been giving their views. In a media interaction in New Delhi on Tuesday, former Australia skipper Michael Clarke has given his answer to the often talked about topic: Who is a better batsman among contemporary greats- Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. According to Clarke, Kohli definitely wins the battle when it comes to shorter format i.e One Day internationals, but as far as the longer format (Test cricket) is concerned , Smith takes the honours as better batsman.
"In limited-overs cricket, I think Virat is ahead of Steve, but just by that much. Smith I believe is a better Test batsman," Clarke said during a media interaction in the nation's capital on Tuesday. "I think over the next few days, everybody would want to speak about Steve Smith vs Virat Kohli but at the end of the day, it comes down to one thing, and that is the team that wins. It doesn't matter who makes the runs - Kohli or Smith. At the end of the day, your job as a captain is to win.
"Another focal point besides their batting is their assessment as leaders. And honestly, at the moment, I think it's very even at this stage of their careers. Two young captains, two very good players and they both continue to improve. Along with that, like I said, what's important as a captain is that your team in winning. And at the moment, Kohli's team is winning. Smith needs to find a way to crack that momentum early on in the series and needs to find a way for Australia to pick it again."
Alongwith Clarke, former Indian batsman, VVS Laxman was also present at the occasion. According to Laxman, India is clearly the favourite as Australia have a weak bowling line up currently. "It's 4-1 to India. The reason being, for Australia the bowling department is depleted. Last time when they were here (2013 series), it was highly competitive because they had a good bowing line-up. This time the bowling department looks very weak. While (Pat) Cummins is a good bowler, (Nathan) Coulter-Nile knows how the conditions will be because he has got the IPL experience but the spinners are inexperienced and that's where India will have the upper-hand."