Who’s the best batsman: Smith, Kohli, Root or Williamson?

Smith has no ethics. So got a year ban. Kohli on the other hand, has been aggressive and pro active on the field. But hasn’t been a cheater like his Australian counterpart. Indian think tank is positive for cricket unlike Aus who who want to win anyhow.

Firstly, let's get a couple of things straight. Like you, I don't accept Paul's view has carrying much credibility, however, you need to be corrected about a couple of your claims. Smith has scored 51.01% of his test runs on home pitches while Kohli has scored 52.59% of test runs at home. In addition to this, for the past three years, India played all their test cricket, bar one series in the West Indies, on familiar subcontinental pitches. In that time, Smith scored good runs everywhere, save for a two test series in Bangladesh. the other dubious claim is that Kohli excelled in test cricket later than Smith. I am sorry, but that simply is not true. Kohli debuted in 2011 and by 2012 and 2013, he averaged 49.2 and 56.0 respectively. Smith played five tests in 2010/11 as a bowling all-rounder, dropped for a couple of years and recalled to the side as a batsman in 2013. Remember by then Kohli's test career was well established and he was performing well, being elevated up the batting order to number 4 by the end of 2013. Smith average 37.4 in 2013 but had shown signs that better was to come. in 2014 and 2015, Kohli averaged 44.5 and 42.3 while Smith averaged 81.8 and 73.7. 2016 and 2017 saw these two major players for the test top batting ranking perform very well. Clearly, Kohli was the first to excel in the test arena. Smith just did it better and with greater consistency once he got his recall.

And Kholi averaged sweet stuff all, although surely you aren't suggesting that Lyon and O'Keefe are better than Ashwin and Jadeja?

Kohli also struggled to make a run when India last toured England. I expect there will be significant redemption when India tour there later this year. It needs to be added that until this recent series in South Africa, India have almost no test cricket outside the subcontinent (one lone series in the West Indies). The next 12 months will be very telling where Kohli truly sits on the test arena and some may be surprised just how good he is.

If looking at Tests, Limited Overs and T20 formats, it would be wrong not to consider AB de Villiers in the mix, although Kohli still gets the nod as the best across the combined three formats. On the test arena alone, he currently sits a long way behind Smith, but ahead of the others.

Are you kidding me??? As per your logic Kohli had scored 4 hundreds in 4 tests in Aus, then all pitches in Aus are flat- tracks, where Smith scores most of his run. Smith has 6000 runs in 111 innings where Kohli has 5500 runs in 112 innings. The difference is due to Kohli excelled in test later than Smith. For past two years they have scored almost simillar runs in similar innings. Again in Odi and t20 there is no comparison between the two.

The thing is, batting in a test match requires a different set of skills to batting in an ODI - there is a lot of overlap but many skills are not necessary in both formats. For example, more stamina and patience are required in test matches whereas more flair and explosive ability is required in ODI's. Smith is thriving in test cricket now because he dictates to the bowlers, has put away certain shots and scores freely in other areas. He is still a good one day batsman but his superior patience and stamina are of little value in that format. Furthermore, the bowlers in ODI's bowl differently than in test cricket - and they are often different bowlers. Take the recent series as an example. England's best bowling combination (Anderson and Broad) did not play. Australia's best bowler was Andrew Tye who doesn't even play first class cricket for WA. ODI's and test cricket are two different games. Personally, I don't even think Smith should be playing ODI's.

I'm not good enough to be on the bench and not agile enough for the fence!! Smith is currently the best test batsman, Kohli, currently the best ODI batsman. But my opinion is worth no more than others (some would say less).

So are you sitting on the bench or on the fence, David?

The question "Who is the best batsman?" is like asking "Who is the best bowler?" then trying to argue the merits of say Starc vs Ashwin. It can't be done with logic. Most commenters here have Smith as number 1 for test matches and Kohli for ODI's. I don't disagree with these opinions but it doesn't make sense to judge one or the other as best overall. As far as a captain goes, again it would depend on the format but I think neither of them are very good tacticians and Smith is not even a good leader of men. I'm happy to sit back on the couch and watch both of them in the prime of their batting careers.

Kohli across all formats is in a league of his own, Smith is the easily the best of a great bunch in test cricket at the moment, can't help but think Kohli is destined for greatness though, Can't wait to see where they are in 5 years.

Never use total runs. Kohli has played heaps more ODI's and T20's than Smith, so will obviously have scored more career runs. Using total runs, Ganguly is better than Kohli.

So Kohli only to a one-eyed Indian then.

I agree Mitcher and I tried to edit the comment as soon as I realized I had written it, to remove the word but for some reason it had locked the edit. I owe Sheek an apology for that.

‘Perhaps even racial’. I think your comments have been incredibly well thought out and reasoned. But don’t play the race card when there was never any suggestion of that from sheek.

100% agree with this. Smith lacks the tactical nous to be a great captain and Kohli has no control whatsoever over his own emotions or ego.

Yet somehow kohli has scored 9.500+ runs in ODIs and 2000 runs in T20s compared to 5500+ in test by him and Smith has scored only 6000+ runs in Test.

Yes true but kohli has jumped from 44 to 53 in a year. I wouldnt be surprised if he goes up to 60 with two good seasons. Whereas i will be very happily surprised if smith does the same and goes upto 70. There have been batsmans such as ponting younus khan and sangakara who have managed to maintain averages in 60s for same period of time as smith. But eventually law of averages catches up. Diffrence is smith ha s done that very early in his career.

Just now read about Statsguru Awards for 2017. Kohli did very well in all formats in 2017: Test average 75.64. ODI av. 76.84, SR 99.11. T20I SR 152.55. Steve Smith and Nathan Lyon received the CricInfo Awards for Test cricket in 2017. So let the debate continue.

Numbers-wise, possibly (due to NZ playing limited tests in the past year), but not on talent.