"No obvious weaknesses"- Stuart Broad names the best Indian batter he bowled to amid ENG vs IND 2025 Tests
England bowling legend Stuart Broad has named Virat Kohli as the best Indian batter he bowled to in his Test career. The 39-year-old said that the former India captain had the ability to put both his good and bad balls away. He felt that the right-hander did not have any obvious weakness in his game.
Broad also said that Kohli had an all-round game, with an extremely competitive mindset, which always kept him in the contest.
"The best batsman I bowled to against India in Test match cricket is Virat Kohli. He had an all-round game, no obvious weaknesses. Was not just able to punish my bad balls, but also punish my good balls. Extreme competitive mindset that he was always in the battle. So he's definitely the best Indian batter I bowled to in Test cricket," Broad said in a video on the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
The former England pacer then named Jasprit Bumrah as the best Indian bowler he faced in his career. Stuart Broad said that he found the 31-year-old's calm run-up coupled with the explosiveness of his action very tough to line up against.
"The best Indian bowler I faced without a doubt although there's a lot to choose from is Jasprit Bumrah. I found his calmness of his run up and the explosiveness of his action really difficult to line up. The way he could swing the ball in and out, wobble seam, always hitting the stumps, pacey bouncer, just one of those bowlers of the generation really. There's no surprise to me he's having great success in every format," Broad said.
While Virat Kohli has now retired from Tests, Jasprit Bumrah is competing in the ongoing five-match series between India and England.
Stuart Broad rates his spell at Trent Bridge in 2011 as his best against India in Test cricket
Stuart Broad took 74 wickets against India in his Test career between 2007 and 2023. He rated his spell of 6/46 in the first innings of the Test match at Trent Bridge in 2011 as his best spell of bowling against India in the longest format.
"My best bowling spell against India in Test match cricket came at Trent Bridge in 2011. India had gone past us four down and we needed quick wickets and I came on with the second new ball and made some breakthroughs including a Test match hat trick. My first Test match hat trick ended up with five or six wickets and that swayed the game in our way in a game that we eventually won," Broad said.
Stuart Broad took the wickets of MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, and Praveen Kumar to claim his first Test hat-trick.