There have always been comparisons in cricket. Whether it was in 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, there were always two cricketers who were compared with each other. Sunil Gavaskar was put against Allan Border. Sachin Tendulkar with Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting. Comparisons cease to end in today’s time as well. The cricket lovers have two more exciting batting talents, who are taking the world by surprise with each innings they are playing. They are India’s Virat Kohli and England’ Joe Root. Kane Williamson and Steve Smith have also been in contention, some time or the other but at the topmost level, it’s always been Kohli vs Root. The comparison between Kohli and Root is inevitable for they are of almost same age, bat at the same position for their respective teams.
On the field, they seem to chase each other as well. While Kohli hit his double-century in the first Test match of the four-match series against West Indies in Antigua, Joe Root was not far behind in scoring his second double hundred and also his highest total in Tests.
These two knocks brought us again to the golden question of who’s better between the two batting heroes of modern times.
Let’s check it out.
Batting average: When we start talking about Test cricket, Joe Root nudges ahead of Virat Kohli in terms of batting average. Root’s average in Tests is a startling 50.20. Kohli has a batting average of 46.28 in Tests. He though has no competition whatsoever from Root when it comes to shorter versions of the game. Kohli averages 51.51 and 58.60 in ODIs and T20Is respectively. Root, here, has an impressive but comparatively less average of 44.96 and 39.60 in ODIs and T20Is respectively. If the three formats are seen as a game of 3, Kohli looks the front-runner to win the series.
Total Runs: Virat again loses the race in Tests as his overall score thus far is 3194 runs, whereas Root has 3550 runs in his Test career till now. When it comes to ODIs, there’s a clear winner in Virat Kohli, who has 7212 runs in ODIs and 1641 runs in T20Is respectively. Root has played almost hundred matches less than Kohli but he still has much catching to do. Root has scored 2743 and 594 runs in ODIs and T20Is respectively till now. Virat seems to be winning the battle here too.
The total number of centuries: There is no competition here. Virat Kohli is far, far ahead of Joe Root in terms of the number of centuries scored, across all format. Kohli’s 27 international century looks too big in front of Joe Root’s tally of 17 international centuries.
