Virat Kohli is the best player to come out of India: David Lloyd

David Lloyd, the former England cricketer, picked the players he would play to watch. To start with, he picked Ben Stokes, the Three Lions’ all-rounder, who has won his team plenty of games, sometime single-handedly. Last year, he took the Brits to a stupendous victory against Australia in the Ashes. At the Headingley in Leeds, Stokes’ century scripted triumph for the hosts.

He was also one of England’s star batsmen in the 2019 World Cup that preceded the high-voltage Test series. Lloyd next went for Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper across the three formats. Calling him a ‘fearless’ character, the veteran said that the 31-year-old keeps his team on top in his priority list.

David Lloyd lauds Virat

“I’d definitely pay to watch England play as a team. Ben Stokes is box office. But I’d go for Virat Kohli. I reckon he is the best player to come out of India. He is fearless and, crucially, I think he always puts his team first. He has to win — for the team,” Lloyd was quoted as saying in Sportsmail.

Kohli is currently the only batsman in the world with an average over 50 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. The Delhi-born has 70 tons at the highest level, third only to Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 and Ricky Ponting’s 71. Having already scored over 21,000 runs for Team India, the 31-year-old Virat is speculated to take down more records as his career progresses.

He is currently India’s most successful Test skipper after India’s 2-0 victory over the West Indies last year. Kohli also led the Men in Blue to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup.

Among the cricketers from the previous era, Lloyd picked the stylish and legendary Brian Lara. “Aesthetically I would never tire of watching Lara. He was a flipping genius,” he added. Lara currently has the highest individual score of 400 in Test cricket.

A number of batters have scored in the 300s, but somehow couldn’t surpass the West Indies’ batsmen’s tally. The left-hander ended with over 22,000 runs for the Caribbean team to go with 53 centuries and 111 half-centuries. He retired after the 2007 World Cup.