New Delhi: Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell has rated India captain Virat Kohli the best batsman in the world across formats of the current generation of cricketers due to his incredible fitness and leader that doesn't fear defeat.
Between Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root, Chappell said that Kohli is the best batsman. "Of that group, Kohli is the best in all three forms.
That's unquestionable. His record in all three forms is quite unbelievable, particularly his record in the shorter forms," Chappell said on The RK Show, which is hosted by sports broadcaster Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan on YouTube.Kohli, from 70 centuries has scored more than 20,000 runs, averages above 50 across formats.
"Rating Kohli as the Best Chappell said, 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.
"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 former Australian skipper.
Chappell also expressed his admiration for Kohli's captaincy and said he liked the Indian's desire to win cricket matches as the leader of his team.
"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.(UNI)