Luke Littler has shown his class by insisting he is not the best darts player in the world despite his recent winning form.
The youngster picked up his fourth Premier League win in Aberdeen on Thursday and disagreed with Wayne Mardle that he is the No 1 player on the planet right now.
Littler has secured qualification to the play-off stage in the Premier League having now won four of the last six nights.
He has won back-to-back weeks for the second time and has now won his last 12 matches, having also triumphed at the Austrian Darts Open last weekend.
Luke Littler disagreed with Wayne Mardle that he is the best darts player in the world
Sky Sports
The 17-year-old beat stablemate Nathan Aspinall in a last-leg decider in his quarter-final on Thursday.
He shushed the crowd after his victory after he was being whistled at by fans during his throw.
Michael Smith has had the better of Littler in their meetings so far but the youngster stormed to a 6-1 win in Thursday's semi.
Rob Cross was Littler's opponent in the final for a second week in a row and he saw out a 6-4 victory to scoop another £10,000 in prize money.
Mardle interviewed Littler on stage after the win for Sky Sports and had a key burning question he wanted to ask.
He said: "I want to ask you a question. If you say yes it's not arrogance, it's not anything. Do you feel like you're the best player in the world right now?"
No one would have begrudged Littler giving an affirmative answer but the grounded star replied: "No."
Mardle responded: "You don't? Luke Humphries is?"
To which Littler said: "I don't know [who is], not me."
Mardle disagrees and believes Littler is the current best player in the world.
He said: "You can say yourself! It's interesting because statistically things are not just going your way but you are doing the best things more than anyone else right now and you're getting win after win after win.
"I just wanted to get your feelings on that. But no is fine!"
When Littler left the stage, Mardle again made his stance clear on the young sensation.
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Luke Littler refused to say who he thinks is the best darts player in the world
Sky Sports
"I do believe he's playing the best in the world, but this changes all the time," he reflected.
"Humphries has gone off the boil and Littler is getting better. Imagine how good he will be in five years?!
"Right now I think he has this swagger. There's a definite comfort zone with him now, shushing the audience.
"Having the guts to do it. Having the composure to do it and it not bothering him or putting him off.
Luke Littler has now won four Premier League nights and has qualified for the play-offs
Getty
"He seems to have come out of his shell [after Liverpool last week]. There has been a change in him.
"There's a lot to like about his game, for many a year let's hope, but that's four wins now and he's more or less wrapped up the league phase with two weeks to go."
