Not allowed to say Virat Kohli isn't best; Williamson would be if he were Indian: Vaughan

With India and New Zealand all set to clash in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship, former England cricketer Michael Vaughan sparked off controversy as he compared the current Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, with his Kiwi counterpart Kane Williamson. Often considered to be part of the 'Fab 4' by pundits and fans alike, Williamson and Kohli are arguably amongst the best batters, with the Indian holding a slight edge over the Kiwi considering Team India's dominance in Tests. However, Vaughan - known for his contentious comments, has now once again hogged the limelight as he remarked that Williamson would be the 'greatest player in the world' if he was an Indian. 

Talking to Spark Sport, Vaughan claimed that since Williamson is not Indian, one cannot state that Virat Kohli is not the 'greatest' as that would be greeted with an 'absolute pelting' on social media. The former England skipper added that people mostly label Virat as the 'best' to get 'few more clicks and likes and followers' on social media. Moreover, explaining his reasons for the same, Vaughan went on to state that Kane Williamson is 'equally the best' across all formats. 

“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 told Spark Sport.

Comparing Kohli and Williamson's performances in England, Vaughan said that while the Indian skipper enjoyed success the last time, he has failed to make an impact in English conditions otherwise. On the other hand, he said that Kane Williamson has 'mostly had success' in swinging conditions. Moreover, Vaughan reasoned that Kane Williamson does not have 100 million followers and neither does he earn as much as Virat Kohli from endorsements which is why the Kiwi skipper is under-rated and backed him to score more runs than the Indian batter this summer. 

"I’m not just saying it because I’m speaking to you guys in New Zealand but I think Kane Williamson is right up there with the great players across the three formats and certainly matches Virat Kohli. It’s just that he doesn’t have the 100 million followers on Instagram and doesn’t earn the $30-40 million or whatever Virat gets every year for his commercial endorsements. But in terms of quality and what he brings on the pitch and his consistency, I wouldn’t back against Kane Williamson getting more runs. I think Kane may score a few more runs than Virat this summer,” he added.

In Tests, Williamson and Kohli have both scored over 7,000 runs with the Indian skipper leading the race by hair's margin. However, while New Zealand briefly attained the number one spot on ICC Test Rankings, a last-minute point to Kohli & Co. helped Team India retain the ICC Test Mace for the fifth time under Kohli's regime. India won the ICC Test mace on Wednesday as it ended the year on top of the charts for the fifth consecutive time after winning it in 2017 first. 

Focus turns to WTC final

While Team India would celebrate their 5th year of glory silently, the real focus turns to the World Test Championship between India and New Zealand set to be held in England next month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a 20-man squad for the upcoming World Test Championship and India tour of England. Team India’s first stop will be in Southampton where they play New Zealand to decide the first champion of the Test format. Following their 3-1 win against England at home, India finished as the No. 1 side with 72.2 percentage points and booked their place in the final. The Indian team is scheduled to play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand at Southampton from June 18-22 before taking on England in a five-Test series.