Birmingham: England’s revered captain Mike Brearley feels that Joe Root is ‘not quite as good as Virat Kohli’ but is still a ‘thoughtful bloke’, who needs to rev up his conversion rate like his Indian counterpart.
“Root has a poorer conversion rate in comparison to Kohli. But I think Root is a fine batsman too and I like seeing him do well. He is different – a brilliant batsman. He is not quite as good as Kohli but is still a thoughtful bloke,” Brearley told this agency, Sunday.
Brearley rated Kohli as the best batsman in world cricket and his success is largely due to his ‘ruthless streak’. Kohli scored 149 and 51 but India lost a closely contested first Test against England by 31 runs.
Edgbaston Test (loss) will be a learning experience for Kohli. It will make things a lot easier. There is intensity about this Indian team, especially their bowling attack
Mike Brearley
However Brearley was all praise for the Indian skipper, who perched on top of ICC rankings for Test batsmen. “I think Kohli is best in the world and anyone who averages 50-plus in all three formats must be a very, very fine player. He can play in every mode and so can Root. But there is something ruthless about Kohli and he converts all those fifties into hundreds,” Brearley asserted.
Every player, who is a leader has his own style and Kohli is no different, feels Brearley. “I like what I see in Kohli (captaincy) and quite like it. Everyone has their own style and he is very good in his own style. He is keen, and hawk-eyed. I think it is good for Test cricket,” said Brearley, the author of widely acclaimed book ‘The Art of Captaincy’.
Virat tops ranking
Dubai: India skipper Virat Kohli topped the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, riding on his brilliant century against England in the opening Test at Edgbaston. Kohli thus became the seventh India batsman to be ranked the No.1 Test batsman in the latest ICC ranking released, Sunday. Kohli has gone up by 31 points, ending Steve Smith’s 32-month reign as the top-ranked batsman in the process. Kohli now leads Smith by five points. Apart from Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar are the other India batsmen to have achieved No.1 rankings during their careers.