Former Pakistan all-rounder Mushtaq Mohammad hopes Virat Kohli wins Test series against England

Former Pakistan all-rounder Mushtaq Mohammad has stated that he hopes Virat Kohli wins the Test series against England. The now 74-year-old, Mushtaq went on to say that Kohli is a kind of player who would be "most difficult to deal with for a Pakistan captain".

Brother of legendary Hanif Mohammad, Mushtaq played in 57 Test matches and 10 One-Day Internationals for Pakistan between March 1959 and March 1979. He scored 3643 Test runs with 10 centuries and 19 half-centuries to his name. With the ball, he bagged 79 wickets in Tests, including three fifers.

In an interview with Times of India, the former all-rounder praised Kohli, labelling him a much more difficult player to stop (for Pakistan) than Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.

"Gavaskar played in a different era and I'm not saying Tendulkar is any lesser player. But the very fact that Kohli plays all three formats so well makes him a more difficult player to stop. I hope he wins this Test series against England," he said.

The Indian skipper has a sub-par record in England as his only Test series here, in 2014, saw him score only 134 runs in 10 innings. Kohli, though, has the opportunity to turn things around this time with another five-match series which started yesterday (1st August).

India, as a unit, have started the series on a positive note as after being pegged back in the first and second session by Joe Root and co., the team came back to restrict England to 285/9 by the end of day's play.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the hero with the ball for India - the off-spinner scalped as many as four wickets on the first day. Root (80) and Jonny Bairstow (70) starred with the bat for England.