The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli has been going through a lean patch in his career and it continued when he nicked a wide delivery from debutant Kyle Jamieson to first slip on Day 1 of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Wellington on Friday. It was the 19th innings in a row that he has failed to score a century across the formats. The Indian skipper, whose top score of the tour is 51, managed just two runs before being caught by Ross Taylor.
It was the fifth time during the ongoing tour that Virat has failed to reach the 20-run mark. The top-ranked Test batsman’s abysmal outing even triggered a critical comparison on Twitter against Steve Smith. Many fans tweeted that Steve is better in the longest format of the game as Kohli can get runs only on flat decks.
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Here are some of the twitter reactions:
You never see Steve Smith getting out under 10 balls of a test match ffs. If he plays like this in Aus we gonna get whitewashed for sure
— Sam🥳 (@Viratesque) February 21, 2020
No doubt @imVkohli is the current best,
but when it comes to tricky pitches he gets out cheaply.
On the other hand we have @stevesmith49 , give him any ground any situation he will prove why he is the boss of test cricket 🏏#IndvsNz #TestCricket #BCCI— Rahul Kataria (@Rahul3091) February 21, 2020
@imVkohli'S International Century Drought is Extended to 19 Innings Now.💔😔#viratkohli #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/HHdkb1ee1C
— ᴠɪʀᴀᴛ ᴋᴏʜʟɪ = 🌍 (@KohliSensation) February 21, 2020
India plays hardly on green pitches and i haven't seen @imVkohli playing on green tracks. I think he is missing flat tracks. Thumbs up to @ajinkyarahane88 again proving y he is the most important batsman in overseas tours. And WHAT A PITCH! this makes test cricket alive #INDvsNZ
— Meet Shah (@meetshah99) February 21, 2020
Steve Smith flourishes in difficult and challenging conditions.
Best test batsman in my opinion, way ahead of @imVkohli who still is tempted to chase the ball on sixth stump channel in seaming conditions. Poor cricket from a batsman I admire.#INDvsNZTestCricket #INDvsNZ #NZvIND— Witty Abuser (@WittyAbuser) February 21, 2020
This series will bring back Virat Kohli to his deserved position.. & that is behind Steve Smith. 😬
There I said it. #NZvIND
— Waѕiyullah Budye (@WasiyullahB) February 21, 2020
Kohli has not scored a century in his last 19 innings, which is pretty rare for him. His last century came in the day-night Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata when he scored 136. However, this is not the first lean patch of his illustrious career. Between February to October 2014, he had failed to score a hundred in 25 innings across formats. Before that, he had failed to score a century in 24 consecutive innings between February to September 2011.
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Overall, Virat has scored 70 international century as compared to Steve Smith’s 35. However, the competition between the two batsmen is much tighter in Tests as Kohli has 27 Test centuries, while Steve Smith is not far behind on 26. Interestingly, when it comes to Test average, Steve Smith is ahead of Virat Kohli.
Smith’s Test average is 62.84 as compared to Kohli’s 57.81. In terms of ICC Test rankings for batsmen, Virat is leading the charts with 928 points while Steve Smith occupies the second spot with 911 points.
