Batting great and former India coach Greg Chappell has called Virat Kohli the “most Australian non-Australian” cricketer of all time and thanked the sport’s “most important” figure for championing the cause of the Test format with his “all-out aggression”.

Chappell invoked Mahatma Gandhi before crediting Kohli’s intensity for bringing about a paradigm shift in Indian cricket.

“Many previous Indian cricket teams tended to play with undue deference to their opponents,

as if in accord with the Gandhian principle. Sourav Ganguly was the first Indian captain to try to change that approach. It worked to a degree in India, but usually hit a hurdle overseas,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Virat Kohli does not believe in passive resistance. His idea is to dominate the opposition. Kohli is the most Australian non-Australian cricketer of all time. He embodies the new India. As the premier player and captain of the world’s pre-eminent cricket power, he feels an abiding responsibility to the wider game.

“The fact that Kohli champions Test cricket is a huge plus for a format under pressure for time and space in a crowded schedule. Test cricket has always been the pinnacle for him. It is why he drives his team in these areas because he wants India to be respected in the most demanding format,” Chappell said.

Chappell called Kohli the most powerful player in world cricket now. “Steve Smith and Kane Williamson vie with Kohli for the mantle of the best batsman of their era. Kohli, though, is the most important one in the context of world cricket. Kohli is tremendously influential. He is also under the most pressure,” he added.

India take on Australia in a four-match Test series from December 17 but Kohli will leave for home after the first game.