India have bowling attack to rattle Australia including Smith, Warner: Gambhir

Mumbai: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir believes that the Virat Kohli-led side has the bowling attack to rattle the Australian batting line up including Steve Smith and David Warner, who were serving ball-tampering bans in the previous series Down Under.

India is slated to tour Australia in November for a grueling four-Test series.

Read More ... India have bowling attack to rattle Australia including Smith, Warner: Gambhir

Smith comes nowhere close to Kohli; Indian skipper even better than Sachin: Pietersen

Smith comes nowhere close to Kohli; Indian skipper even better than Sachin: Pietersen

London: Steve Smith’s accomplishments pale in comparison to Virat Kohli’s “unreal numbers” and the Indian captain has outstripped even the great Sachin Tendulkar with his mastery of chases, feels former England star Kevin Pietersen.

Smith and Kohli are among the leading batsmen in the world now but for Pietersen, the Australia doesn’t even come close to the Indian superstar.

“Kohli, hands down. Freakshow. His record chasing, winning games for India with the amount of pressure he consistently lives under, Smith doesn’t even come close,” Pietersen told former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa during an Instalive.

When Mbangway asked Pietersen to choose between Kohli and Tendulkar, he said: “Again Virat because of his chasing numbers. His chasing numbers are frightening. He averages 80 in chases, all his one-day hundreds come when chasing.

“He consistently wins games of cricket for India. He just keeps on turning the numbers, chasing, chasing, chasing.”

Winning games for the country is much more important than individual performances, said Pietersen.

“That’s what drives me. My Man of the Match performances. It was not the way that I played or how I played. How many Man of the Match performances and how many games that you win for England. And he (Kohli) does that for India. Unreal numbers,” added Pietersen.

Kohli, who has scored 70 international hundreds, averages more than 50 in all three formats. Smith, on the other hand, averages higher than Kohli in Tests with 7227 runs in 73 games at 62.74.

Kohli has scored 7240 runs in 86 Tests at 53.62. The Indian star averages 59.33 and 50.80 in ODIs and T20s, while Smith averages 42.46 and 29.60 respectively, in the two formats.

Kohli is like Federer while Smith is more of Nadal: De Villiers

Kohli is like Federer while Smith is more of Nadal: De Villiers

New Delhi: Virat Kohli’s natural talent makes him a cricketing equivalent of Roger Federer while Steve Smith’s mental fortitude matches that of Rafael Nadal, said South African swashbuckler AB de Villiers comparing the two contemporary greats.

In an Instagram chat with former Zimbabwe seamer Pommie Mbangwa, de Villiers spoke about the two batsmen, who are easily the game’s biggest crowd-pullers right now.

“It’s a difficult one, but Virat is definitely the more natural ball-striker, there’s no doubt about that,” de Villiers said during his interaction on ‘Sports Hurricane’.

“In tennis terms, I’d say he’s more like a (Roger) Federer whereas Smith is like a (Rafael) Nadal. Smith is mentally very strong and figures out a way of the scoring run – he doesn’t look natural, but he ends up writing records and doing amazing things at the crease.

“I think mentally, Smith is one of the best I have ever seen. Virat has also scored runs all over the world and won games under pressure,” de Villiers, himself a modern-day great, said.

De Villiers also felt that when it comes to chasing, Kohli is a shade ahead of Tendulkar.

“Sachin is a role model for both of us (him and Kohli). The way he stood out in his era, the things he achieved, and with the grace, he did all that is a great example for everyone,” de Villiers said.

“And I think Virat will also say that he set the standards for us to follow. But personally, in a chase, I’d say Virat is the best I’ve seen in my life. Sachin was amazing in all formats and all situations, but Virat comes out on top while chasing,” he said.

The world knows Kohli as a prolific cricketer but for de Villiers, he is a friend, who has interests beyond cricket and is spiritual at one level.

“He’s much deeper than just a cricket player, I think most people realize after a while that there’s more to life than just cricket,” de Villiers said.

“Virat’s always been a thinker, he experiments (with) a lot of things, he loves trying new things out – gym wise, what he puts in his mouth. He thinks a lot about life after life – what’s to come, the different religions, we talk about everything.”

De Villiers said that he also shares a great bond with Indian captain’s actor wife Anushka Sharma, conversing on a lot of issues including family life.

“We go pretty deep and his missus as well, Anushka, we have very deep conversations, which is fantastic. We talk about children and family. We’re waiting for that first little Kohli to come.

“It’s a good friendship and we always find a way to talk about cricket as well, but 90 percent of the time we talk about other stuff. It’s refreshing and in the middle of a very intense IPL tournament,” he shared.

IPL, for de Villiers, is not just a tournament but also about friendships that he cherishes.

“Obviously, when it comes to the IPL in India, it’s been more than friendship,” De Villiers said when asked who his best friends in cricket are.

“Virat obviously not only during the IPL, we chat throughout the year, which means it’s different than just the IPL or cricketing friendship,” he added.