Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has emphasised that lack of runs for Virat Kohli in the longest format of the game has brought the worst average for him in comparison to the other players of fab 4 - Joe Root, Smith Smith and Kane Williamson.
Chopra’s comments come in the wake of Steve Smith’s 35th Test century that he belted on day one of the ongoing first against Sri Lanka in Galle. Smith also became the fourth Australian player to complete 10,000 Test runs. Chopra lauded Smith’s efforts but drew attention towards Kohli’s average despite having played five more innings than Steve Smith.
"Smith has scored a century (against Sri Lanka). He has struck his 35th century in just 205 innings. (Joe) Root has scored 36 hundreds but he has played 278 innings. So if you look at it in terms of the strike rate, the number of innings he takes to score a century, then Steve Smith is ahead of Joe Root,” Chopra remarked on his Youtube channel.
"If I see Virat Kohli here, he has played 210 innings, which means he has played five more innings than Steve Smith and has five centuries fewer than him. So Virat Kohli, unfortunately, now has the worst strike rate because he has scored only three centuries in the last five years," he said.
Virat Kohli had a forgetful 2024, scoring only 417 runs in 10 Tests. Currently, Virat Kohli is playing for Delhi in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match against railways.