New Delhi: Former England captain Alastair Cook hailed Joe Root as the best batter in the world, saying that “at this precise moment in time” players find it tough to play “as well as” the right hander.
Recently, Root surpassed Cook to become the leading run-getter and century-maker for England in the first Test between England and Pakistan in Multan earlier this month. With 12,716 runs, Root is the fifth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket. In the last four years, Root has been on the rise in Test cricket with more than half of his 35 centuries coming in that period with an average close to 60.
“I think at this precise moment in time, I find it hard to see anyone playing as well as Joe Root. Over the last year or so, of the so-called ‘Big Four’, I think Williamson and him are probably in the best form at the moment,” Cook told ICC.
“They’re all wonderful, wonderful players, all very different, actually, in their methods and ways of playing. But one thing which kind of unites them is that hunger and desire to keep improving and keep churning out the runs,” he added.
Cook feels that England’s cricket changed drastically in both limited overs and Test cricket after Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes took charge of the teams, respectively.
“I think the game has certainly made a big jump forward in what is now deemed possible in Test cricket. I think the jump happened in one day cricket first, probably. The fundamental change, certainly from the English point of view, is when Eoin Morgan took the side forward in 2015. And obviously the Ben Stokes era has changed the mentality of what was possible,” he said.
–IANS