Virat Kohli vs Steve Smith: A battle bigger than war

If Virat Kohli and Steve Smith were cars, you’d be forgiven to think that they were running parallel at same speed, with similar engines, detours and pit stops. Such has been the similarities in the careers of the Indian and Australian captains.

Both are young, dynamic leaders who define the term youthful exuberance. Both bring the kind of energy on to the field that is infectious. Both are the best batsman of their respective teams, with the class that often leaves their teammates in awe as well. Both are the torch bearers in the path of greatness among modern-day batsmen, and are likely to carry that for quite some time.

The parallels have been in the journey to getting to that torch. Kohli was a brash, middle-finger-showing bloke as a young Test player, who would seldom do justice to his oodles of talent with the bat.

Smith, meanwhile, was thrown into the big scene to fill in the big shoes of Shane Warne, but those were a wrong pair of shoes.

Crossroad 1.

In the 2014-15 Australian summer, Kohli touched down for a four Test series at the back of a horrendous tour of England. Some minor technical changes and a major one in the mindset saw him do something no Indian had ever done: score the most runs by an Indian in a series against Australia home or away (639).

Smith, on the other hand, realised that bowling leg-spinners was not his cup of tea. He felt more at home while holding the bat, and the bat felt a touch of genius in return. 

Smith cracked a century in each of the four Tests in the same series against the visitors to match Kohli, but scored 77 runs more than his Indian co-genius.

The two have since continued to torment bowlers like few others in world cricket, Kohli becoming the second highest run-getter across all formats in 2016 and Smith having World No. 1 Test batsman crown sit pretty on him.

Crossroad 2.

It’s not just batting. Their leadership journeys have also been intertwined. In the same 2014-15 series, regular Australia captain Michael Clarke was ruled out of the series after the first Test due to injury. Faith was placed in Smith to become Australia’s future skipper, and boy did he live up to it, winning the series 2-0 and growing as a batsman with the added responsibility. Kohli was always touted as MS Dhoni’s successor to the Test throne, and the baton was finally passed when Dhoni stepped down from captaincy after the third Test of that series. Captain Kohli brought in fresh air into the team, looked the Australians in the eye, and made a huge statement in his first Test as captain: a century and a fighting draw.

Two years on, the duo has already turned many a new leaves in the cricketing chapters of their countries as young leaders.

Crossroad 3.

Smith and Kohli are gearing up for another pit stop together, this time in India for a four Test series, with more history in store for them.

Both know it is imperative for them to continue what they have been doing so admirably over the last couple of years: shoulder the burden with the bat, lead from the front and score heaps of runs, much like in the 2014-15 series. And knowing Kohli, he’ll be itching to swap the 2014-15 numbers and score more than his Aussie counterpart this time around. More than that, though, this series will go a long way in defining the legacy of these two as leaders. Should India come out trumps, Kohli will win his seventh consecutive series as captain to stretch India’s best Test series-winning streak and provide more belief that he can lead his troops to heights that no team in world cricket has ever touched.

Should Australia manage to spring a mighty surprise – shock, rather – against the hosts, Smith would have done what even Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Clarke couldn’t do: win a Test series against India in India.

This is a big one for Kohli and Smith, as batsmen and as leaders. One car is bound to vroom ahead of the other in the race of parallels.