Former Australian captain Ian Chappell heaped praise on Virat Kohli and called the India skipper as the best batsman across formats among the current generation.
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.
“Having listened to Kohli talk about batting, he makes a lot of sense. 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," Chappell said.
“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," he added.
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Chappell further stated that Kohli's fitness makes him perform better and that stands him apart from the rest of the cricketers.
“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," he said.
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.
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Chappell also had some advice for what cricket administrators should do to restart the sport in a post-pandemic world. “I’d like to think that in this period of hiatus the administrators would be thinking about where they want the game to go.
“You have a period where no cricket is being played, this is the ideal time for some thinking about the game and where it’s going. They’ll have to make some changes because of what’s happened in the pandemic.
“Whatever they do in the future, it’s got to be a partnership between the administrators and the players. The only way the game is going to go forward, and go forward in a good, positive way is if we work together,” Chappell said.
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