I think Virat is the best player in the world: Michael Vaughan

With the India vs England series underway in India along with the cricketers, quite a few former captains and cricketers are in India. The likes of Michael Atherton, Naseer Hussain, and Michael Vaughan are a part of broadcast teams for various channels sharing their insight of the game and helping the England team with strategic ideas as well. Their team hasn’t been able to perform at par with the expectations but the commentators are certainly having a great time in India.

Vaughan who has always been vocal with his views on Social Media platforms as well in a conversation with The Ring Side View called Indian skipper Virat Kohli the best batsman overall in international cricket at the moment. “I think he’s the best player in the world. I think there are some players close to him in different formats, but across the three formats, I think he’s the best. I think what he’s brought to Indian cricket, more than playing is the ability to educate the Indian team on fitness and nutrition.” Vaughan said.

The ODI series has been a high scoring affair with over 350 runs scored in Pune as well as Cuttack and the Team India batting second bettered England’s 351 in the 1st ODI and England fell short of the 381-run target by just 15 in the 2nd ODI. Vaughan thinks smaller grounds have contributed in this. “I think the grounds are smaller, the pitches are very good and there are too many wide balls. Also, the ball doesn’t deteriorate which is making it a little bit easier to strike the ball in the last 10 – 15 overs and the players these days have an awareness and ability to hit the ball 360 degrees.” He said.

Despite the evolution of bats, techniques and shots the Yorker bowled in the block hole still remains the most potent weapon for the bowlers but we haven’t seen the bowlers use it enough. Instead, they have relied more on the variations pace. “It’s a reasonable question for an amateur cricketer to ask. I think you have to take into equation the ramp shot – the ability of a player to collect that yorker ball and hit it over fine leg.

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“I think it’s getting harder for a bowler to trust that yorker more than they used to. In the old days, if they got the yorker in it was going for just one run. I think the actions are very important. I think those bowlers that have had success have bowled express pace, or their skill levels are incredible, or they’ve got something a little bit different in their action.” Vaughan said.

He has on quite a few occasions tweeted unpopular tweets about Indian cricket or cricketers and the fans have come hard at him on the micro-blogging site. “The first time I saw it was when I suggested that Sachin might not have been the best player that we’ve played against. In my time, I thought that was Ricky Ponting. Sachin’s a great player, but we’d managed to keep Sachin a little quieter, while with Ricky we always wondered how we were going to get him out. I like passion.

“I like passion. I love passion in all sports, and I think that’s what you get with Indian cricket. I love the energy in the stadiums, and cricket without Indian cricket fans would be a very boring place.” The former England skipper said.