England Former player praises Joe root and Kohli

New Delhi, Aug 06: England's revered captain Mike Brearley feels that Joe Root is "not quite as good as Virat Kohli" but is still a "thoughtful bloke", who needs to rev up his conversion rate like his Indian counterpart.

"Root has a poorer conversion rate in comparison to Kohli. But I think Root is a fine batsman too and I like seeing him do well. He is different a brilliant batsman and quite intelligent. He is not quite as good as Kohli but is still a thoughtful bloke," Brearley told media.

Brearley rated Kohli as the best batsman in world cricket and his success is largely due to his "ruthless streak".

Kohli scored 149 and 51 but India lost a closely contested first Test against England by 31 runs.

However Brearley was all praise for the Indian skipper, who today perched on top of ICC rankings for Test batsmen.