'You would be hard-pressed to argue against him (Kohli) being seen as the best player in the world at the moment. The way he's developed, played through this series, has been absolutely fantastic. I like the way he plays the game it's fantastic to see,' said Paul Farbrace
Nottingham: England assistant coach Paul Farbrace has heaped praise on India captain Virat Kohli and declared him as the “best player” in the world.
On Monday, Kohli registered his 23rd Test century, against England in the third Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
Thanks to the skipper’s knock, India set an improbable target of 521 for the hosts. At close of play on the third day, England were 23/0.
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For the second time in the series, Kohli has scored 200 runs in the match. In the first innings he made 97 and followed that with 103.
The opening Test at Edgbaston saw Kohli hit 149 and 51. It was a one-man show as rest of the Indian batting collapsed.
England, 2-0 up in the series, are now facing defeat. They resume Tuesday, trying to save the Test. They have an uphill task of batting for two full days.
Farbrace wants his batsmen to learn from Kohli and show guts and gumption.
“I'm a big believer in players learning from players, and I think ours will be watching the way Kohli lets the ball come, and almost takes third and fourth slip out of the game,” Farbrace said on Monday.
He continued, “You're looking for the best players to learn from the best players, and try to adapt their game to suit - and I think there's no better exponent of that at the moment than him.
“Having had such a poor performance yesterday, you would expect your batsmen to show some gumption and some guts and get stuck in tomorrow and show that they are the best players.”
The 51-year-old said he had no doubt that Kohli is "the best player in the world at the moment".
"You would be hard-pressed to argue against him (Kohli) being seen as the best player in the world at the moment. The way he's developed, played through this series, has been absolutely fantastic. I like the way he plays the game it's fantastic to see," the former Kent wicket-keeper said.
"He's a high-quality player, and has shown he's learned a lot on this tour alone. The way he's tinkered, practised and obviously worked at his game fantastic and he thoroughly deserves the runs he's scored. Our bowlers might argue that we've perhaps given him a few too many chances but the bloke has shown that he is high-quality," he added.
Farbrace also praised paceman James Anderson and wants captain Joe Root, Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes to deliver in the fourth innings.
"I thought Jimmy Anderson showed why he is the best seam bowler in world cricket. On the first day he didn't quite get it right, but today he got it spot on and bowled really well. He kept challenging the stumps and the outside edge. You're looking for (Alastair) Cook, (Joe) Root and (Ben) Stokes to get stuck in and show they are top quality players," the coach said.
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