Virat Kohli is the fittest and most complete batsman I've ever seen - but that shouldn't make bowlers fear him

At this point, I have run out of adjectives for Virat Kohli. People keep waiting for the law of averages to catch up to the RCB skipper, but he absolutely refuses to let that happen! To say that he's batting at a different level right now would be an understatement.

Yesterday the master batsman was at it again, putting the Kings XI Punjab bowlers to the sword in company with the swashbuckling Chris Gayle. But while Gayle departed in a bid to up the scoring rate, Kohli stayed on till the end, completing his fourth century this season and ensuring his team posted an imposing total.

That's what sets Kohli apart from every other batsman right now – he makes runs, but also makes them with a consistency and a sense of responsibility that you don't see anywhere else. Four centuries in a single IPL season, an average of 99 in 2016 T20s, the most runs in a single IPL season (and there are still a few matches left) – these are records that you don’t see very often in the sport. But Kohli is making it all look like a walk in the park.

Kohli has got all the bases covered

It's easy to talk about how many runs Kohli has been scoring, and how passionate he is about winning. But what is lost amid the excitement is that there's a very scientific reason to his success – he's got every single aspect of batsmanship covered.

If you look at the history of cricket, you'll find that it's not one or two qualities that make a batsman stand out. There are about 10-12 different characteristics that are present in varying degrees among the greats.

Players like Chris Gayle and Yusuf Pathan can hit sixes on demand, and that makes them dangerous – even if they can't run very quickly between the wickets. Sachin Tendulkar had exceptional consistency and shot-making ability, even if his T20 strike rate and number of match-winning contributions weren't the greatest. Michael Bevan was a tremendous finisher and was outstanding at rotating the strike – but he couldn't start smashing the ball from the word 'go'.

But in Kohli's case, there's absolutely nothing that he can't do with the bat. He can take quick singles, find the gaps for twos and threes, hit classic drives and cuts, and even occasionally slog the ball over the fence. He can squeeze yorkers past short third man for a four, delicately glance any straight ball to the fine leg boundary, and increase his scoring rate whenever he wants to. His use of the bottom hand is exemplary too – the way he uses it to hit against the spin on to the leg side is a perfect example of how to make best use of gaps in the field.

There was a time when he struggled against the moving ball outside the off stump, especially on the tour to England a couple of years ago. The short ball wasn't particularly a strong scoring area for him either. But you wouldn't know that from the flowing cover drives, vicious cut shots and authoritative pulls and hooks that he showcased on the tour to Australia, and which he has continued showcasing the entire last year.

Cricketers normally look to improve when they are struggling for form or when they have hit a roadblock in their career. But Kohli is unique because he looks to improve even when he's batting like a dream. This year he scored his first IPL century, but he didn't stop there - he went on to add three more. And he's not satisfied with four centuries either – he is always looking to turn a 100 into a 120 or a 130.

Kohli is always trying to improve every single aspect of his batting, and it's no surprise that he is the most complete batsman in cricket right now.

Kohli's fitness is the single biggest differentiating factor

I've played with a lot of great batsman during my career. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman were fantastic players to have as teammates, and when I trained with them I could see from close quarters how much work they put into their fitness and practice.

There are two major aspects of fitness in cricket – gym fitness and match fitness. Tendulkar and Dravid didn't have gym bodies or bulging biceps, but they had tremendous match fitness. They could field well, run well and had incredible stamina, which helped them become truly great batsmen.

But I can honestly say that I've never seen a batsman as fit as Kohli. He has the gym body - you can see him flashing his six-pack abs regularly on his Instagram account. But his match fitness is also without question; both while batting and while fielding, he always displays remarkable athleticism and agility, which enable him to dominate the opposition completely.

Lately there have been a lot of comparisons between Kohli and former greats. The Sachin vs Kohli debate has been raging on for months, and it doesn't look like getting resolved any time soon. But while the jury is still out on who has better shot-making ability, I think there's no question who the fitter of the two is.

Kohli has left Tendulkar and everyone else behind as far as fitness is concerned, and that may well help him become the greatest batsman every by the time his career is over.

If I was a bowler, I'd relish the opportunity to bowl to Kohli

The prevailing wisdom is that bowling to Kohli is the toughest job in cricket right now; it is widely believed that every bowler in the world must be dreading the prospect of running in when they face India or RCB. You see commentators and journalists repeating that mantra too - they keep saying bowlers are scared of him, and that they'd want to stay as far away from the pitch as possible when he's at the crease.

But I have a different take on this. If I was a bowler, I'd love bowling to Kohli. That's not because I think I would've been able to stop him; it's more because bowling to Kohli is a win-win situation for anyone.

If you get hammered by him, no one's going to blame you. His brilliance is such that he can make a mockery of the best bowlers in the world, and send even good deliveries screaming to the boundary rope. So if you give away truckloads of runs against him, how is that a crime?

On the other hand, if it's your lucky day, you might just manage to somehow get his wicket – the way Mitchell McClenaghan did last week. It wasn't a particularly great ball, but Kohli, in his bid to find the tiny gap between the keeper and short third man, ended up giving catching practice to Harbhajan Singh. And that made McClenaghan an instant hero!

Kohli's wicket is the million dollar ticket in cricket right now – and I for one would relish the chance to get it.

If you get hammered by Kohli, you escape any sort of criticism because he's just that good a batsman. And if you somehow get his wicket, you are lauded as the guy who did the impossible! The way I see it, bowlers have nothing to lose against Kohli right now.

This article was also published on Mohammad Kaif's blog here.