Was this ever in doubt though? The closest Kohli came was when he followed that excellent South African tour run with nearly all time great levels of performance in England while Smith was banned. And Smith arguably outdid Kohli himself in England the following year.
That's not enough. There is a vast difference between Kohli and Smith. Smith has been plagued with a handicapped batting line up for most, if not all of his career. Yes, Warner is there at the top but he's in my opinion a flat track bully at red ball cricket. I have not seen him make a defining century in seaming or spinning conditions. Before Labuschagne, there was very little in that batting order. When you look at Kohli and the resources available at his disposal, the comparison is plain ridiculous. (It's also crazy how Williamson never figures in these discussions inspite of playing most of his cricket in the most challenging conditions!)
What you also need to see is how the likes of Pujara and Rahane for example have been treated. It was unfathomable to conceive they could have been dropped when they were and before Kohli took over from Dhoni as test skipper, Rahane was even ahead of Kohli in tests. There is no good reason for Vihari or anyone else to be our number 6 considering the way Nair was treated. Jadeja, who I have been weeping and shedding tears about for the past 2 years would be giving Ben Stokes a run for his money in the best all rounder category if he was part of any other international side, yet, he finds himself in and out of the side in all 3 formats. We have musical chairs with our keepers. Some days, Bumrah and Shami open the bowling while some days Ishant does.
ANY other team in world cricket would have played KL Rahul now in these two tests but he's gone. FFS, the guy has made tons abroad. Yes, he was inconsistent but his growth since the WC has not been anything short of what Rohit or Kohli himself had in their time. Was there any good reason to give Rohit a go as test opener in the first place?
The AUS series win with Warner and Smith out was just a big smokescreen and the fact remains that with any other captain we should have won in England, SA and here as well. The team is there, the leadership and management is on weed.
