Alastair Cook believes neither Virat Kohli nor Steve Smith stand closest to Joe Root | Cricket News – Times of India

Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith. (Getty Images)

NEW DELHI: Former England captain Alastair Cook feels that Kane Williamson of New Zealand is the only player who can equal the in-form Joe Root at this “precise moment in time.”
Along with Virat Kohli and Steven Smith, the ‘Fab Four’ of Test cricket includes Root and Williamson. But as time has gone on, Root has gradually surpassed his greatest opponents in Test cricket.
He is now regarded as the player who has the ability to accomplish the unimaginable and change the course of history.At 12,716 runs, the 33-year-old is just 3,206 runs away from surpassing India’s “God of Cricket,” Sachin Tendulkar, as the most decorated batsman in Test history.
Regardless of the competition before him, Root has been at his best in recent years each time he took the bat to the crease. Cook sees only one player who is close to his friend as he continues to mesmerize cricket with his unfathomable skill.
“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 said during a round-table interview hosted by the 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 remarked.
Root is playing in the three-match Test series against Pakistan. Williamson is part of the New Zealand team for the three Test matches against India.
But a groin strain kept Williamson out of the Kiwis series opener in Bengaluru. Coach Gary Stead confirmed his unavailability for the second Test also.