Brian Lara Believes Virat Kohli and Joe Root Are the Best in the World

There has always been a long debate over the best modern-day great batsman in the world. Meanwhile, the former Windies great Brian Lara picked Virat Kohli and Joe Root as the best in the contemporary cricket.

The legendary Brian Lara felt that the Indian skipper Kohli and England skipper Joe Root has got the best technique to deal the world-class bowling attacks. And also, picked his two best bowlers as well.

In a chat with ICC, the flamboyant batsman maintained that James Anderson from England and the Kagiso Rabada from South Africa are the best bowlers of his generation for him.

I embraced my battle with Shane Warne – Brian Lara

Going to his times, Brian Lara quoted that he enjoyed playing against Shane Warne. Meanwhile, he picked Muttaiah Muralitharan as the toughest bowler to pick during those days. However, he added that he found control; after facing him in few innings.

“Muttiah (Muralitharan) always confused me in the early part of our confrontation, whilst Shane Warne didn’t. Having said that, as my innings grew I felt I had more control over Muttiah, whilst Shane seemed to grow in confidence. They were definitely the two best spinners of my time,” he said.

“He (Warne) played for the best team in the world during my era, he was, and still is, regarded as the best leg-spinner to play the game. It was a battle I just embraced in some of the largest cricketing arenas,” Lara said.

The T20 format will help the growth of the game – Brian Lara

Further, the Windies great supported ICC’s decision to play 10-team World Cup this time. Speaking of the shorter version of the game, he felt that Twenty20 games helped the game grew better across the globe.

“The most important thing for the ICC to consider is the growth of the game, where that will happen is in the T20 format. All the countries that are taking to the sport as of late are naturally attracted to T20 format since it’s the most exciting,” he added.

“Moving on to the longer formats, you want good quality and intense cricket. And only the best teams in the world can offer that. Therefore, I feel the number of teams in the World T20 being 16. And the number in the ODI World Cup being 10 is just right,” he added.

However, as Brian Lara said, the emergence of T20 cricket has been the most significant invention of this generation. It helped the game to be globalised and attracted people towards it with the fun quotient in it. However, Virat Kohli and Joe Root have already set an example for the youngsters.