Former England spinner Monty Panesar has weighed in on Michael Vaughan’s take on Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. A few days ago, Vaughan had stirred controversy saying that the Indian skipper is only famous because he is an Indian and enjoys a massive fan base on the social media platform Instagram.

Kohli’s immense growth over the years has earned him a massive fan base. The likes of Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Kohli are often pitted against each other.

“If Kane Williamson was Indian, he would 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. So, you all say that, purely to get a few more clicks and likes, few more numbers following here.

Kane Williamson, across formats, is equally the best. I think the way he plays, the calm demeanour, his humbleness, the fact that he is silent about what he does,” Vaughan had told Spark Sport.

Kane Williamson would be ideal replacement for Ajinkya Rahane in India’s Test side – Monty Panesar

Monty Panesar, who played under Vaughan’s captaincy, is confident of the class which both batsmen possess. Although the former left-arm spinner rated Virat Kohli a tad higher than Kane Williamson and explained how if Williamson had been an Indian, he would have been some other Indian batsman’s replacement in India’s Test XI.

“I think both are extremely good. Both can steady the team in any situation. If you look at T20Is and ODIs, Virat Kohli is the best chaser. But Kane Williamson plays equally well in all three formats. I think his level is above Rohit Sharma but a little below Virat Kohli. If Kane was an Indian, he would probably be an ideal replacement for Ajinkya Rahane in the Test batting line-up,” Monty Panesar told Sports Yaari.

Recently, Monty Panesar had backed India to beat England 5-0 considering that conditions will be generally warm which will come in handy for the Indian team.