Former England spinner Monty Panesar has weighed in on Michael Vaughan’s take on Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson and how the former England captain had mentioned that had the New Zealand captain had a fan base similar to Kohli’s, people would be calling him and not Kohli, the world’s best batsman.
“If Kane Williamson was Indian, he would be the greatest player in the world. But he’s not because you’re not allowed to say that Virat Kohli is not the greatest, because you’d get an absolute pelting on social media. So, you all say that, purely to get a few more clicks and likes, few more numbers following here. Kane Williamson, across formats, is equally the best. I think the way he plays, the calm demeanour, his humbleness, the fact that he is silent about what he does,” Vaughan had told Spark Sport.
Panesar, who played under Vaughan’s captaincy, had his say on Kohli and Williamson and where he rates the two batsmen. Although Panesar is confident of the class which both batsmen possess, the former left-arm spinner rated Kohli a tad higher than Williamson and explained how if Williamson had been an Indian, he would have been some other Indian batsman’s replacement in India’s Test XI.
“I think both are extremely good. Both can steady the team in any situation. If you look at T20Is and ODIs, Virat Kohli is the best chaser. But Kane Williamson plays equally well in all three formats. I think his level is above Rohit Sharma but a little below Virat Kohli. If Kane was an Indian, he would probably be an ideal replacement for Ajinkya Rahane in the Test batting line-up,” Panesar told Sports Yaari.
Panesar further explained as to why he backs India to beat England 5-0 in the upcoming Test series. “The first factor is that the matches will start in August, which has the warmest weather in the year. The second factor is that there are five Test matches taking place in a short span of time and India play well when they have the momentum,” added Panesar.
“Thirdly, India’s seam options are brilliant. It wasn’t the case earlier. And the most important is that ever since Alastair Cook retired, England’s top order batting hasn’t been good.”
