Smith at par with Kohli, AB: Watson

Australian all-rounder Shane Watson believes his countryman and Rajasthan Royals teammate Steve Smith is up there with India’s batting order mainstay Virat Kohli and South African skipper AB De Villiers as the current best willowers of the game. Smith has continued his rollicking form from the World Cup into the IPL, scoring an unbeaten 79 from 53 balls to help his team beat Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets on Tuesday. “I think he (Smith) is on par with AB de Villiers at the moment and Virat Kohli when he is at his best. It is incredible to see him just continue to pile on the runs in every format. It looks like it’s not going to end and let’s hope it doesn’t for quite a while,” Watson was quoted as saying by iplt20.com on Wednesday. Asked how he was recovering from the injury which has kept him out of the first three IPL games, Watson said: “I got hit around the hip during the first training session and it has taken a bit of time to recover. We are going to travel to Vizag overnight, so it’s going to be touch and go for the next game. I will surely be back in the team for our game here against the Chennai Super Kings.”