ICC World T20 2016

Root > Smith imo in all formats. Root is already comfortably better in limited overs, think he will go down as a greater test player as well.
 
Root is class in all three formats. Take Dhoni out of there.

Mind you Dhoni as an ODI batsmen is arguably only second to Tendulkar (for India at least)
 
Root isn't easily top five at all in all formats. Amla, ABD, Williamson, Smith and Kohli are better than him.
 
Root isn't easily top five at all in all formats. Amla, ABD, Williamson, Smith and Kohli are better than him.

Nonsense.

Just look at this cnut over the past two years for crying out loud:

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I'm talking about all formats and not tests?

So we're talking about a bloke who's arguably already Englands best ever ODI player and is a T20 match winner then? As well as averaging nearly 70 in test cricket for the best part of 2 years.
 
Based on his numbers Smith should be nowhere near the T20 team. He was averaging below 20 before yesterday.
 
Kohli doesn't have anywhere close to a claim to 'across formats' top 5 yet.

The others he's being compared to.. they all average >50 in last few years.. Smith, Root, Williamson.. accomplished test players who can make big hundreds. Kohli averages 41 in last 2 years and his high score is 169.

He isn't even India's best test batsman -- Vijay and Rahane have better claims to that.
 
Kohli doesn't have anywhere close to a claim to 'across formats' top 5 yet.

The others he's being compared to.. they all average >50 in last few years.. Smith, Root, Williamson.. accomplished test players who can make big hundreds. Kohli averages 41 in last 2 years and his high score is 169.

He isn't even India's best test batsman -- Vijay and Rahane have better claims to that.

Neither do any of the others. Kohli is better than all of them in LOI. In Test, Root has 2 or so centuries outside England. Kohli has 3 or 4 in Australia itself. Kohli seems more adept at scoring a good hundred away from home than Root.
 
Neither do any of the others. Kohli is better than all of them in LOI. In Test, Root has 2 or so centuries outside England. Kohli has 3 or 4 in Australia itself. Kohli seems more adept at scoring a good hundred away from home than Root.

I think you're just picking up the one statistic that's useful(but not very meaningful) and using it. Root's average away is pretty good -- better than Kohli's anyway. I made the remark about high score because I think Kohli hasn't yet developed the knack to bat time yet, which is important for test cricket. Most great test batsmen have this.
 
I think you're just picking up the one statistic that's useful(but not very meaningful) and using it. Root's average away is pretty good -- better than Kohli's anyway. I made the remark about high score because I think Kohli hasn't yet developed the knack to bat time yet, which is important for test cricket. Most great test batsmen have this.

i mentioned the centuries because of your comment on that they score big hundreds more. Anyway its not meaningless at all. There are batsmen who could score 300s at home but struggled overseas. Amassing runs at home vs Scoring abroad is what makes a better sample (not saying w.r.t Root but generally). 11 centuries, 8 of them away from home shows great temperament and adaptability to foreign conditions. Sachin's first 200 was in 1999, 10 years after his debut. Till that game, his highest test score was i think 169 too, with 20 centuries. You wouldnt say he was not a good test batsman because he didnt have a 200 would you?
 
Surprised that Kohli's average is only 44. Which isn't special at all in the modern day. He's a brilliant LO player though.
 
Surprised that Kohli's average is only 44. Which isn't special at all in the modern day. He's a brilliant LO player though.

Tbh I don't think batting in tests have changed as drastically as ODIs have.
 
i mentioned the centuries because of your comment on that they score big hundreds more. Anyway its not meaningless at all. There are batsmen who could score 300s at home but struggled overseas. Amassing runs at home vs Scoring abroad is what makes a better sample (not saying w.r.t Root but generally). 11 centuries, 8 of them away from home shows great temperament and adaptability to foreign conditions. Sachin's first 200 was in 1999, 10 years after his debut. Till that game, his highest test score was i think 169 too, with 20 centuries. You wouldnt say he was not a good test batsman because he didnt have a 200 would you?

I think for me to answer that question, I would need more stats such as average balls faced per innings, % of innings played having played >300 balls, how his contemporaries performed at that time, etc. You can't pick one number and make an argument with that. Kallis, for example, didn't get to 200 for a long time but everyone knew he could play the brigadier block routine when the team needed it. Kohli hasn't shown that all-round temperament yet. You can pick any numbers you want, but at the end of the day, he averages 44 and is the 3rd best batsman in a team that doesn't contain truly world class batsmen -- many with great potential, but none truly walking into a world XI.

While Kohli's a truly great ODI player and the comparison players have their flaw -- Root for example, hasn't proven himself in T20s. Smith hasn't done well for Australia in T20s but plays well in the domestic leagues but they have good to great ODI stats to pad up their limited over records. For Kohli, the test average of 44 is a glaring anomaly and for people like me who weight test performances more than limited overs performances, that's hard to look beyond. It's a matter of preference.
 
T20's isn't really the platform of greatness for me. If someone has mastered test cricket, and performs well in ODI's and moreover shows up big time at the world cup, that's what counts.

Moreoever, with the standard of bowling attacks these days, averages in tests for true greats should also be higher.
 
Interesting how the home track bullies thing only applies to sub-continental players. If someone like Kohli had only two centuries away from home then that'd been counted against him.

Anyway Kohli is India's bestmen, Rahane and Vijay are very good but they aren't better than Kohli.

Kohli's average is less due to his horrendous record in England. Averages 60, 85 and 47 in Australia, NZ and SA respectively.
 
Mitch doesn't agree with you.





Kohli said he doesn't respect Johnson. It's all a bit childish.
Wouldn't read too much into what Johnson said on twitter. He's just after a reaction and it looks like he got it. Kohli did go missing in last year's World Cup Semi, so too though did most of India's batting lineup albeit they were chasing a big score. I like Kohli, he takes Australia on in a way few are brave enough to do and generally his bat does the talking. He might have some choice words for Jimmy Faulkner if he's in form tonight.
 
Root is a better test player than Kohli and Kohli is a better limited overs player than Root.

I think that's fair to say

Yup. I don't think many players have really dominated both ODI's and Test simultaneously, and now T20s are also in the equation. The exceptions I remember are probably Tendulkar & Ponting and which is why they're two of the best to ever play.
 
Root vs Smith is a good debate IMO. They've both had good careers so far for players who both look like they're about 20 years old.
 
Speaking of Smith, I'm worried about him. He's not going to sit back in the crease and watch the ball spin miles past him time and again. Uses his feet excellently and one of the best players of spin bowling.

Smith gets the short straw at times because unlike the likes of Root, Kohli, Williamson he's an ugly player to watch at the best of times.
 
Why is Williamson not mentioned alongside Root and Smith ? I think he is better than the both of them in most of the formats.
 
Kohli's test numbers will improve. There's no way it doesn't with his technique, talent and ultimately the desire to score runs. Just needs to improve his patience a bit and realize that sometimes you have to wait it out and play ugly. That England tour damaged his average but he's scored runs pretty much everywhere else.
 
Why is Williamson not mentioned alongside Root and Smith ? I think he is better than the both of them in most of the formats.

He's literally been mentioned in every post which states the best batsmen playing today.
 
They are all pretty great players and it's easy to pick small holes in their careers thus far, love watching them all. Hoping they have some decent quicks to face over the next decade though.
 
He's literally been mentioned in every post which states the best batsmen playing today.
I didn't see any post where his name was brought up except the MJ twitter post. But I am guessing it's a debate between Smith and Root for who has the 5th spot in all formats alongside, Amla, AbD, Kohli, Willamson ? If that's the case, Smith for me, but only because He's already the captain in all three formats. The leadership hasn't fazed him or weighed him down one bit.