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Former Australian drummer Michael Hussey thinks Indian maestro Virat Kohli, statistics book aside, is the best of the ‘big three’.
New Zealand run-machine Kane Williamson last week became the best official of the lot when he climbed to the first rung of the International Cricket Council in men’s try-bat.
And Australia pistol Steve Smith – ranked third – posted the 27th century of his trial career in the current SCG match against India.
Meanwhile, Kohli takes a break from cricket for the birth of her first child but occupies the second ledge of the standings.
Although statistics indicate Smith has the advantage over his two fiercest contemporaries, Hussey says Kohli “stands out” for him as the greatest drummer of the trio.
“These are incredible numbers – by all three,” Hussey said on Fox Cricket.
“(Going through) the numbers and averages, you’d say Smith is # 1, but in my mind I felt that looking, by eye, Kohli is probably the best of those three.
“Everything is very close – don’t get me wrong. But it seems to me the best.
“But if you look at the raw numbers, you should say Smith is the top performer of the three.”
Smith’s test average of 62.75 is significantly better than Williamson (54.31) and Kohli (53.41), while Australia’s second drop racked up 7,449 points.
Williamson tallied 7,115 and 24 tons, while Kohli compiled 7,318 runs and is equal to Smith on 27 hundreds.
Smith totaled 212 points in the New Years Test, scoring 131 in the opening innings and 81 in the second.
His SCG Century was his first ton of testing since the Ashes’ Australian tour of England in 2019, in which he incredibly plundered 774 races at an average of 110.57, and his celebration was received as the most touching of his career of 76 tests.
Smith recalls a century against India
“I read a lot of stuff,” Smith said on Fox Cricket.
“People say I’m out of shape but I think there’s a difference between out of shape and out of race.
“It’s just nice to mark a few and maybe keep a few people quiet.”
His fiery words came following an extraordinarily lean start to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which saw him complete just 10 races through the Adelaide and Melbourne tests.
The New South Welshman’s 27th century places him on par with Kohli, Graeme Smith and Allan Border.
Smith is just a ton behind Michael Clarke and Hashim Amla, and two behind the greatest drummer of all time, Sir Donald Bradman.
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