Pat Cummins, the Australia fast bowler, has chosen Virat Kohli as one among the three batsmen he would want to have in his playing XI. Cummins, the current No 1 in the ICC Test bowler rankings, revealed that the other two batsmen he would choose were New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and former Australia captain Steve Smith.
“I would probably have Kane Williamson at No 3, Steve Smith at No 4, maybe Kohli at No 5. In any order, but I would have those three,” Cummins said in reply to fans’ questions on his YouTube channel from Sydney, where he is in quarantine following his arrival from Maldives.
The Australian had earlier travelled from India to the South Asian island nation after the postponement of the Indian T20 League.
Williamson and Smith are the top two batsmen in the ICC Test rankings, followed by Australian Marnus Labuschagne, England captain Joe Root and Kohli in fifth position.
The India skipper is ranked second in the ICC ODI batting rankings, after Pakistan captain Babar Azam, with India vice-captain Rohit Sharma at No 3. Kohli is also among the top five batsmen in the ICC T20I rankings, behind England’s Dawid Malan, Australia’s Aaron Finch, Azam and New Zealand’s Devon Conway.
The India captain has a stellar record in Cummins’ home country, having scored 1352 runs from just 13 Tests in Australia at an average of 54.08, with as many as six centuries and a highest score of 169, which came at Melbourne in December 2014. On that same Australian tour, Kohli had scored a century in each innings (115 & 141) in Adelaide, in what was his first match as India captain.
Kohli will lead India in England next month for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton, followed by a five-match Test series against the hosts in August and September.
Featured Image: AFP/ William West
