New Delhi: Both the batsmen are considered flag bearers of modern day cricket. While Virat Kohli has already established himself as the numero uno batsman, Joe Root is slowly but steadily climbing up the charts.
On Thursday, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) posted a video capturing Root talking about India Test captain. In the video, the England top-order batsman hailed Kohli as "a great leader". The 25-year-old also said that he "admire how Virat constructs his innings".
Here's the video, courtesy BCCI:
Kohli, 28, finally killed the English ghost with a brilliant unbeaten 151 on the first day of second Test at Visakhapatnam. He and Cheteshwar Pujara (119) helped India post a good total of 317/4 at the end of day's play.
The skipper, after winning the toss in his 50th Test, chose to bat first in his favourite venue. But England quicks Stuart Broad and James Anderson reduced India to 22/2 inside the first five overs.
But, Kohli – who believes in leading by example – took the reigns and changed the course of the day with a controlled yet effective display of batting. Showing his true leadership qualities, an unbridled Kohli showed his frustrations when Pujara and himself survived two run-out chances in one over.
Root, who was also playing in his 50th Test, often finds himself in comparison with Kohli. And there are obvious reasons for it. The Yorkshire batsman has so far hit 11 hundreds and 23 fifties, as against Kohli's 13 and 12 respectively.
Despite his lack in conversion percentage, Root has managed to produce an impressive average of 53.55, which is far better than Kohli's 46.11.
Comparisons happened in every aspects of life, and the fight to do one better then others have consumed many a bright stars. But when a rival takes time off to appreciate another, it certainly goes down as a moment to cherish. Root's glowing words for Kohli's one such moment.
