Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said that New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson would have been the “greatest player in the world” if he was from India, adding that a person is not allowed to say that Virat Kohli is not the greatest.
Vaughan went on to add that not calling Kohli the greatest is an open invitation to get “pelted” by his fans on social media. The 46-year-old did not stop there and minced no words in declaring Williamson as Kohli’s equal, except for the 100 million Instagram followers and the amount of money the Indian captain makes every year.
“If Kane Williamson was Indian, he’d 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,” Vaughan had told Spark Sport earlier this month.
“I think Kane Williamson is up there with the great players across the three formats and he certainly matches Virat Kohli.
“It’s just 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 pro rata – let’s say three tests for Kane and six for Virat – pro rata I think Kane may score a few more runs than Virat this summer,” Vaughan added.
The two modern day greats of the game will be facing each other in the final of World Test Championship (WTC) from June 18 in Southampton.
Williamson, number one ranked Test batsman in the world, averaged 83 with the bat from his 4 matches in the longest format in 2020. He has played only 1 Test in 2021, scoring 238 runs in one innings of it.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli, ranked 5th in the Test format, averaged 19.33 in his 3 Test matches in 2020. This year he has played 4 Tests to score 172 runs at an average of 28.66.
In 50-over cricket, Kane Williamson scored 948 runs at an average of 59.25 in 20 matches in 2019. In 2022, he played 2 matches and scored 41 runs.
Virat Kohi scored 1,377 runs in 26 matches at an average of 59.86 in 2019. The following year he scored 439 runs in 9 matches at an average of 47.88. Kohli is placed 2nd in the ODI ranking, while Williamson is 12th
Michael Vaughan has time and called Virat Kohli the greatest ever ODI cricketer to have played the game.
The is at it again … #Virat
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 8, 2019
In One day cricket … YES … https://t.co/vwjmKJYlgT
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 8, 2019
