'Virat Kohli is the best in all three forms' - Ian Chappell compares the Indian skipper with Sir Viv Richards

Former Australian batsman Ian Chappell has always praised Virat Kohli for his batting efforts. In a recent interview, he opened up about the Indian captain’s capabilities and what makes him better than others. He also revealed the thing about Kohli which impresses him the most.

Talking about the comparison with the other members of the fab four, Ian Chappell said that Kohli is the best. The former Aussie pointed out that Kohli’s record is quite incredible, especially in ODIs and T20Is.

“Of that group (including Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root), 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 Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan on YouTube.

Chappell then went on to compare Kohli’s batting approach to that of the great, Sir Vivian Richards. In his opinion, both the batsmen focus on scoring runs with conventional shots. He described that the 31-year-old’s ability to score runs freely and quickly without playing too many fancy shots impressed him.

Ian Chappell draws comparisons between Kohli and Richards

“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 76-year-old said.

The former Australian captain also said that Virat Kohli’s fitness levels are quite high. “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 added

Talking about Kohli’s captaincy skills, Ian Chappell said that he is very fearless when it comes to his approach. He also stated that the Indian skipper won’t care about losing the game in an attempt to win it, which makes him stand tall in front of his competition.

“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,” Chappell concluded.