Alastair Cook Picks India Batsman Who Can Match Brian Lara’s Genius

Former English cricket Alastair Cook has named Virat Kohli as the current Indian batsman who can match Brian Lara’s genius. Answering the Q&A session with Sunday Times, Alastair Cook named 4 cricketers including one current Indian batsman who according to him came close to match the genius of the legendary West Indies batsman.

What did Alastair Cook say?

The former English opener was answering the Q&A session with the Sunday Times when he went to heap praise on the former West Indies batsman – Brian Lara. Cook also recalled a tour game where Lara’s strokeplay left him awestruck.

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,

recalled Cook.

During the conversation, Alastair Cook picked former cricketers Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, and Jacques Kallis as the batsmen who came close to the genius of Brian Lara.

The ones who came close to that when I was playing for England were Ponting, Kallis and Sangakkarra.

According to Cook, there is only one batsman among the current generation who can match Lara’s free-flowing strokeplay. The left-handed batsman named current Indian skipper Virat Kohli who can match the West Indies legend. He lauded Kohli’s strokeplay abilities in all 3 formats of the game.

Now you would have to put Virat Kohli in that group, especially for his ability to score so freely in all three formats,

added Alastair Cook.

In case you didn’t know – 

Former West Indies batsman Brian Lara is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen ever to play the game. He also is regarded as the best-ever by many. Before his retirement, Lara amassed a total of 11953 runs in 131 Tests and 10505 runs in 299 ODIs.

To get Dream11 and Fantasy Cricket teams on your mobile phones, join our Telegram Channel – CLICK HERE