Gatting falls short of calling Kohli greatest of his time

Former England captain Mike Gatting on Thursday nearly distinguished Virat Kohli from one of the greats to the greatest of his generation for consistency across formats.

"Yes, Kane Williamson is very good now. Yes, Steve Smith has reignited his career and his ability to play one-day cricket... but to see someone like Virat perform so regularly and so well in all three formats, he does deserve that tag of great (player) without a doubt," Gatting said.

Heaping praise on the Indian captain, Gatting, whose side lost the 1987 World Cup final to Australia at Kolkata, said he deserved the tag of a great player following his consistency in all the three formats of the game.

"He (Kohli) has said Test cricket for him... if you have to be regarded as a great player, you have to play Test cricket. This is fantastic. The fact that he plays all forms of cricket with a greatness, that I don't think you see from a lot of other people and possibly might not," said Gatting.

Gatting was speaking after launching the book 'Fortune Turner', penned by Sachin Bajaj and Aditya Bhushan, at the Royal Bombay Yatch Club here on Thursday.

The book is based on the famous Indian spin quartet of Bishan Singh Bedi, B Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkatraghvan.

Gatting also spoke on other subjects including the ongoing Ashes series which Australia lead 1-0.

Former Mumbai spinner Padmakar Shivalkar was also present on the occasion.