Steve Smith Is Best Test Player Of This Generation: Virat Kohli

India's star batter Virat Kohli praised Australian batter Steve Smith, naming him the "best Test player" of this generation. Before the start of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, Virat Kohli featured in a video where he lauded Smith. "Steve Smith, according to me, is the best Test player of this generation. He has displayed that his adaptability is absolutely brilliant. You take any cricketer of this generation... in 85-90 Tests, he has an average of 60 which is quite unbelievable. The consistency and impact with which he scores runs, I haven't seen anyone else doing that in last 10 years. Definitely, Steve Smith, along with Marnus Labuschagne, are their main players in the batting order because they control their batting lineup," Virat told Star Sports.

"Smith has always done well against us and he has performed in England. You want to dismiss him as soon as possible because he can have a match-winning impact," Kohli added.

Virat Kohli, who roared back to form across all formats from late 2022 onwards has a total of 1979 runs in Tests with an average of 48.26 and a strike rate of 52.25 against Australia. Steve Smith has scored 1887 Test runs with an average of 65.06 and a strike rate of 52.79 against India.

Kohli has a total of eight Test hundreds and five fifties against Australia. Smith too has scored eight Test hundreds as well as five fifties against India.

Smith's highest Test score against India is 192 at Australia's largest cricket stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, while Kohli's highest Test score against Australia is 186 in India's largest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Stadium.

The total runs scored by Kohli in ICC knockouts stands at 620 at an average of over 51 in 16 innings