Rohit Sharma, Joe Root or Pant? Former India opener ranks best Test batters of 2021

Former Indian cricket Aakash Chopra recently uploaded a video on his YouTube channel where he ranks the top five Test batsmen in the world according to him. He starts off by naming those five from fifth to first, Pakistan's Fawad Alam is fifth, Sri Lanka's Lahiru Thirimanne is fourth, India's Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma are third and second respectively, and the first according to Chopra is England Test skipper Joe Root. He then goes on to talk in-depth about the players and why they are ranked as they are.

"Pant has played 11 Tests, scored 706 runs with an average of 41. He has been brilliant as a wicketkeeper; it’s almost unbelievable that he is the fastest visiting wicketkeeper to 500 runs in Tests in Australia. So, he has been extraordinary. He has got 11 dismissals in Tests as well," said Chopra.

Aakash Chopra names the top two batsmen in Test cricket for the year 2021

Chopra then explained why Rohit was second to only Joe Root, citing their stats and their performances saying that Root had the slight edge over his Indian counterpart.

"Rohit Sharma has been absolutely sensational. 11 Matches, 906 runs and an average of 47.6. He played two Tests in Australia, then England at home on considerably bad pitches. His century in Chennai remains one of the best. There was no place he did not score runs from the Lords to the Oval he scored everywhere." said the former Indian opener.

And then Chopra talks about the top Test batsman in his opinion being Joe Root, he further goes on to talk about his accolades for the year and how well he has performed through the season.

"Joe Root has been the top this year. He's played 12 matches, scored 1455 runs at an average of 66.1 and also managed to score six centuries. He has been a player par excellence. He's looked like a different player the entire year. And according to me, Joe Root has to be the best Test batter of the year 2021. The way he has played, he has left everyone behind whether it was against Sri Lanka, India, or New Zealand he has scored against all of them, not just once but he scores against everyone," explained Chopra.

Image: PTI