Reportedly former england captain Alastair Cook has heaped rich praise on india captain virat kohli, likening him to legendary west indies batsman Brian Lara. Alastair Cook, who broke innumerable Test records before retiring from england duty in 2018, said he was awestruck by Brian Lara's dominance during a tour to west indies with the Marylebone cricket Club.
Recalling the tour in which Brian Lara smashed a quickfire hundred against the MCC, Alastair Cook said he had witnessed 'another level of batsmanship' when the west indies great got a hundred in just a session. Cook said during a Q&A session "I was part of an MCC team that played west indies at Arundel in the first match of their 2004 tour". "We had a decent bowling attack Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard and Min patel, all of whom were england players. Brian Lara scored a century between Lunch and Tea which made me realise I was witnessing another level of batsmanship altogether. It was genius at work."
Alastair Cook said there were others who 'came close to that' during his playing days. Cook picked some of the legendary contemporary names in his list. The former england captain also said virat kohli would be in the list if he is to pick a player from the modern era. Cook said "The ones who came close to that when I was playing for england were Ponting, Kallis and Sangakkarra". 'Now you would have to put virat kohli in that group, especially for his ability to score so freely in all three formats."
