By News18
England Test vice-captain Harry Brook hasn鈥檛 thought about being part of a modern-day fab-four or rivaling Indian skipper Shubman Gill on the field. He does appreciate the Punjab batter for his batting technique and skills against fast bowlers, though, and hopes to play 鈥榓 lot of cricket鈥 against him.
Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson comprised the original Fab Four, a term coined by New Zealand鈥檚 Martin Crowe. Among them, Kohli has retired from Tests and T20Is and others are entering the final stages of their careers, too. Gill being the next Test captain and Kohli鈥檚 replacement at No. 4 makes him an obvious marketable choice. The same goes for Brook, who epitomises England鈥檚 uber-aggressive era.
Brook was asked if he sees himself as one or if his 鈥榬ivalry鈥 with Gill could be like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in tennis.
鈥淥h, God, no, I hadn鈥檛 even thought about that,鈥 he told The Times of India. 鈥淗e鈥檚 obviously a very good player and hopefully I can play enough cricket for England to be playing against him plenty of times. Watching him last week, he鈥檚 very good, plays the ball late and plays fast bowling very well. So hopefully we don鈥檛 see too much of that for the rest of this series. But yes, I鈥檓 sure hopefully we鈥檒l play a lot of cricket against each other,鈥 he added.
While some fans have picked names like Rachin Ravindra and Yashasvi Jaiswal over the years, too, a clear 鈥榝our鈥 is yet to emerge. A section of supporters also believe that there should never be another 鈥楩ab-Four鈥 because that name was made for Kohli, Root, Williamson, and Smith only 鈥 as early as 2014.
Hopefully, Bumrah鈥檚 absence makes a difference: Brook
Brook is currently playing in the five-Test home series against India. His 99 in the first Test was pivotal in England鈥檚 win at Headingley in the first match. The hosts might have it even better in the second, which begins on Wednesday, considering India are likely to rest Jasprit Bumrah.
鈥淗e鈥檚 obviously a great bowler 鈥 releases it from a slightly awkward angle and has an amazing amount of skill as well,鈥 Brook said. 鈥淵ou just try and respect his good balls and attack his bad balls, really, like any other bowler. I think we had a good win with him playing last week. We鈥檙e going to try and look to put all the bowlers under pressure; it doesn鈥檛 matter who鈥檚 bowling at us. But yes, if the team鈥檚 missing the No. 1 Test bowler in the world, it could hopefully make a difference,鈥 Brook added.