Virat Kohli is unquestionably the best across formats – Ian Chappell

 

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell rated Virat Kohli as the best batsman across formats among the ‘Fab Four’. Kohli is the most consistent batsman in all the three forms of the game and his records speaks for himself. The talisman’s record while chasing in the ODI format is also second to none.

In fact, Kohli is the solitary Indian batsman to average more than 50 in all the three forms of the game. Kohli averages 53.63 in the Test fold, 59.34 in ODI format and 50.8 in the T20I version.

On the other hand, Chappell believes Kohli’s ability to keep the basics simple helps him in dominating the three forms of the game. The right-hander is not known to play ‘out of the box’ shots in the T20 format and he hardly hits the ball in the air, which makes it difficult to get him out.

In fact, Kohli had earlier said that he doesn’t want the innovative shots of the shortest version to adulterate his Test game. Thus, Kohli has never been seen playing a reverse sweep or a switch hit in the T20 format.

“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”, said Chappell while talking on The RK Show, hosted by sports broadcaster Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan on YouTube.

On the other hand, Chappell likened Virat Kohli to the legendary West Indies batsman Vivian Richards. Chappelli, as he is famously known, feels Kohli is a firm believer in playing the traditional cricketing shots. Ergo, the right-hander has achieved great success in all the three forms of the game.

“I like his (Kohli’s) 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 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. Kohlis the same. He plays traditional cricket shots, and he plays them really well”, added Chappell.

Virat Kohli has already scored more than 21000 International runs and has 70 centuries under his belt. Kohli has delivered the goods in almost every match for the Indian team and he has been instrumental in the success of the team over the years. The linchpin is at the numero uno position in the ICC ODI rankings whereas he is at the second place in the Test rankings.

Virat Kohli is at the peak of his powers and he would like to dominate the cricket world in the same manner in the coming years.