Former England captain Mike Brearley spoke positively of Virat Kohli’s passion on the field, called him the world’s best batsman, and gave his captaincy the seal of approval.
Brearley, who was himself well regarded for his captaincy abilities as he led England to 17 wins from 31 Tests, felt Kohli’s passion is mostly a positive thing, although he admitted that the India captain may overdo it at times.
“On the whole, it’s a good thing,” said Brearley in Kolkata’s Aliah University. “You can see he loves his cricket, he loves leading the team. It’s important to combine passion with conviction.”
“Individual skills have grown in many ways – fielding, defensive bowling, attacking batting, catching, athleticism. One thing which hasn’t necessarily improved is wicketkeeping as a skill and in technique,” he said.
There’s one area that has exceeded Brearley’s expectations, however. “The other area that I’d have thought has lagged somewhat in the last 20 years is slow bowling. But to my pleasant surprise spinners like (Shane) Warne, (Anil) Kumble, (Muttiah) Muralitharan and Ravichandran Ashwin have done quite well,” Brearley remarked.
