Calcutta: Michael John Clarke, a highly respected former captain of Australia and one of the best batsmen of his generation, spoke to The Telegraph on Tuesday evening.

The day's highlight for Clarke had, of course, been the launch of his autobiography, My Story, by the one and only Sourav Ganguly.

Clarke is currently in India as a commentator on television for the ongoing India vs Australia Test series. It's tied 1-1, with two matches remaining.

Excerpts...

Q Your thoughts on India captain Virat Kohli and his Australia counterpart Steve Smith, both top batsmen and captains who command respect...

A I'll talk about captaincy... Both need time, but they already are fantastic... Indeed, they're two very good leaders... The more they play, the more they'll learn about their own game and about teammates.

In Bangalore (which hosted the second Test), you had dinner with Virat... Did you invite him or vice versa?

Look, we'd communicated over the phone and both thought we should make some time for each other.

Having had exclusive time with Virat, what is your assessment of him as a person?

Virat's a lovely guy... A fantastic person... He has clear goals and is a very mature man.

Did the discussions centre around captaincy and leadership?

(Smiles) It was a private dinner, so that bit should remain personal... Look, both of us are big on fitness, so that was one area we spoke about. Fitness, diet... We talked about life, about different things... I'm around to give advice to anybody who wants it, I see that as part of my responsibility. I was myself lucky to have met some wonderful people during my playing days and I'll never forget the day I met Sachin Tendulkar. His advice and guidance played a part in my career... If I can help any player or leader, then I'll do so.

Virat and you surely have a few things in common...

I hated not winning, so does Virat... Like me, he can risk losing a match. He'll be aggressive to that extent, just as I was. Of course, Virat has his own style, the style of an aggressive leader.

How highly do you rate Virat the batsman?

In my opinion, at this point in time, Virat's the best in the world across the three formats.

Ahead of AB de Villiers too?

Yes. In any case AB hasn't been playing Test cricket for a while now (not since January 2016, initially owing to a left elbow problem and surgery).

What separates the great batsmen from merely the good ones?

Runs and more runs!

The runs apart...

Well, I've never thought statistics to be important. What matters is helping the team win. And, regularly. Virat has helped India win many matches... Randomly... Sachin, MS Dhoni, Sourav... Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Allan Border... Each one of those guys won a lot of matches for their country. It's important for a leader to do that.