Former England skipper Mike Gatting on Thursday (August 8) heaped praises on Virat Kohli, saying that the Indian captain deserves the tag of a great player for his unparalleled consistency across all three formats.

Gatting, who represented England in 79 Tests and 92 ODIs, also nearly distinguished Kohli from one of the greats to the greatest of his generation.

"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 quoted as saying by PTI.

"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," he added.

Gatting’s remark is justified as well given that Virat is a monster in all three formats of the game. The Indian skipper has already aggregated 41 one-day international hundreds – only behind his batting hero Sachin Tendulkar (49).

He averages a mind-boggling 59.40 in ODIs from 237 matches with 11286 runs while his T20I average reads 49.35 in 70 matches with 2369 runs.

Kohli has also proved his mettle in red-ball cricket, scoring 6613 runs at an impressive average of 53.76 in 77 matches thus far. He boasts of 25 tons in Tests with 6 of them being double.