Former England captain and one of the best Test batsmen to play for the country, Alastair Cook recently revealed his five best all-time batting greats. Cook is the highest run-getter for England in Tests and international cricket and retired in 2018.

Cook’s first pick was current India captain Virat Kohli, who has reigned the ODI and Test rankings for a long time in the recent past. He averages over 50 in all the three formats internationally and is the leading run-getter in the T20I format.

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According to the former left-handed England opener, Kohli finds a spot in the list because of his sheer ability to score runs freely across formats. “Now you would have to put Virat Kohli in that group, especially for his ability to score so freely in all three formats," Cook said.

Next came in West Indies’ Brian Lara and Cook recalled a special story regarding one of the best batsman to ever play the game.

"I was part of an MCC team that played West Indies at Arundel in the first match of their 2004 tour. We had a decent bowling attack - Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, and Min Patel, all of whom were England players. Brian Lara scored a century between Lunch and Tea which made me realize I was witnessing another level of batsmanship altogether. It was genius at work,” Cook recalled a 2004 tour game during a Q&A session with the Sunday Times.

The three remaining spots went to Australia’s Ricky Ponting, South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara. "The ones who came close to that when I was playing for England were Ponting, Kallis, and Sangakkara," Cook, who captained England for 59 Tests, said.

(IANS inputs)