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 and quite intelligent. He is not quite as good as Kohli but is still a thoughtful bloke,” Brearley said on 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.
However Brearley was all praise for the Indian skipper, who today 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 Joe Root. But there is something ruthless about Kohli and he converts all those fifties into hundreds,” Brearley said.
While every defeat hurts, Brearley feels that this loss will be a “learning experience” for Kohli.