Brett Lee picks Virat Kohli and Pat Cummins as his favourite batter and bowler

Australia great Brett Lee has nominated compatriot Pat Cummins and India’s Virat Kohli as his favourite bowler and batter in world cricket at the moment.

In an interview ahead of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final, Lee explained why the pair stood out to him. “When you look at the recent greats, it is hard to look past Virat Kohli,” Lee said when asked who his favourite Test batter is.

“What an incredible record he has got. He is only getting better with age. He has got a great mindset, a great cricket brain as well.”

While Lee couldn’t go past the Indian captain, who averages in excess of 50 in each international format, as his favourite batter, he picked someone closer to home in the bowling department.

“My favourite bowler at the moment is probably Pat Cummins. You might think that I am biased being an Aussie or because he was a former teammate of mine, but what I will say about Pat Cummins is that he is absolute quality,” he said of the No.1 bowler on the ICC Test rankings.

“The skills he has got … he has got a great technique. He has got a wonderful bag of tricks up the sleeve. To me, he is a guy that challenges the bat more often than most bowlers I see around the world.”

Brett Lee states that Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are his favourite batsmen from his playing days

Looking back on his own playing days, Lee singled out India’s Sachin Tendulkar and the West Indies’ Brian Lara as his favourite batters.

“My favourite Test batters from the time that I was playing would be Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara,” he said.

“Brian Lara was simply so flamboyant. You could bowl six balls to him in the exact same area – let us say at the top of the off stumps – if I aimed at that spot for six consecutive deliveries, someone like a Brian Lara would hit me down the ground, he could work me behind square, he could cut me behind by a point, he could drive through the covers, he could hit me straight down the ground to the offside.

“With Sachin, you knew where the ball was going to go, but you had to stop the ball. He had an amazing cricket technique, a great temperament, and a brilliant cricket brain.”