Monty Panesar backs Virat Kohli over Kane Williamson to end 'who's the greatest' debate

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has made an attempt to end the 'Kohli vs Williamson' debate once and for all, placing the Indian skipper above his Kiwi counterpart in terms of sheer skills. Earlier, former England skipper Michael Vaughan had sparked a debate by saying if Kane Williamson was Indian, he would be the greatest cricketer in the world, suggesting Kohli is considered the best only because of India's big population. Panesar, while speaking on Sports Yaari, rated Kohli a bit higher than Williamson, saying the latter would have been an ideal replacement for Ajinkya Rahane if he was an Indian. 

"I think both are extremely good. Both can steady the team in any situation. If you look at T20Is and ODIs, Virat Kohli is the best chaser. But Kane Williamson plays equally well in all three formats. I think his level is above Rohit Sharma but a little below Virat Kohli. If Kane was an Indian, he would probably be an ideal replacement for Ajinkya Rahane in the Test batting line-up," Panesar said. 

What had Vaughan said? 

Michael Vaughan had sparked a controversy last week after he suggested that Kane Williamson is not considered the greatest batsman of this era only because he is not an Indian cricketer. Vaughan had said that if anyone says Virat Kohli is not the greatest batsman, netizens start trolling, which is why most people snub Williamson and pick the Indian skipper in order to garner more likes and clicks on social media. 

"If Kane Williamson was Indian, he would be the greatest player in the world. But he’s not because you’re not allowed to say that Virat Kohli is not the greatest, because you’d get an absolute pelting on social media. So, you all say Virat is the best purely to get a few more clicks and likes, few more numbers following here. Kane Williamson, across formats, is equally the best. I think the way he plays, the calm demeanour, his humbleness, the fact that he is silent about what he does,” Vaughan had said on Spark Sport.

To back his comments, Vaughan had highlighted how Williamson has scored more runs in the English conditions than Kohli. Vaughan further added that Williamson doesn't have 100 million followers on social media and earn less than his Indian counterpart, which is probably why he is so under-rated. Vaughan also backed Williamson to score more runs than Kohli this summer. 

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