'Virat's The Best. That's Unquestionable': Australia Legend Hails 'King Kohli'

Naming team India's skipper Virat Kohli as the best batsman in the world, Ian Chappel also said Virat's fitness makes him stand apart from his contemporaries.

Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Australian cricket team former skipper Ian Chappel believes team India skipper Virat Kohli's remarkable fitness and skills to play copybook cricketing shots makes him the best batsman in the world across all three formats (ODI, T20, Test). "Of that group (including Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root), Kohli is the best in all three forms. That's unquestionable," Chappell said on 'The RK Show', hosted by Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan. "His record in all three forms is quite unbelievable, particularly his record in the shorter forms." "I like his approach to batting. We did an interview with him last time India were in Australia, and one of the things he talked about was why he didn't play the fancy shots, the innovative shots of particularly T20 cricket. "He said he didn't want those to creep in his batting in the longer form of the game. The best short-form player in the time I played was Viv Richards, and he just played normal cricket shots but he placed the ball so well he was able to score at a very fast rate. And Kohli's the same. He plays traditional cricket shots, and he plays them really well." Ian Chappel said Virat Kohli's fitness also makes him stand apart from his contemporaries. "The other thing that stands out about Kohli is his fitness and running between the wickets. The way he pushes himself, he's incredibly fit. Some of his performances are quite amazing," said Chappell. Chappell also expressed his admiration for Kohli's captaincy. "The one thing that stands out to me is that Kohli is the one (captain) that doesn't fear defeat. He's prepared to lose a game in trying to win it. You've got to be that way as a captain in my opinion. I like that approach. "I thought when he took over the captaincy that he was so emotional, it might affect his captaincy adversely but I think he has reined that in a little bit. He has made that work for him in his captaincy rather than work against him. He's a pretty smart cricketer," the legendary skipper said.