Ricky Ponting heaps praise on Virat Kohli's Test captaincy record

Former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting spoke at length, heaping praises on former Indian captain Virat Kohli. Ponting believes that what the Indian Test team has achieved under his reign surpasses the legacy that Australia managed to create under his own captaincy.

Kohli stepped down from the Test captaincy last month after the series against South Africa on the road. Kohli managed to chronicle a win percentage of 58.82 that put him fourth in the list of captains which features the likes of Steve Waugh, Don Bradman and Punter himself.

Ponting, speaking to Isa Guha on the first episode of ICC Review said, “It was more of a staggering achievement for India than it was for us. When I took over, I took over a side that had dominated world cricket for a long time.”

“If you think about India before Virat, it was about winning a lot of games at home and not winning quite as many overseas. The thing that improved the most was India winning a few more games overseas, and that's something that he and all of the Indian cricket have to be really proud of,” he continued.

Kohli has countless glittering records to his name as the skipper of the nation in the longest format of the game out of which the most prominent ones stand as the highest number of matches in which he led the team. He was the skipper of the Indian Test team for a staggering 68 games from which he racked up 40 wins, surpassing the likes of MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly.

Kohli also led the team in 36 Tests away from home out of which there were 16 wins that encompassed the likes of important wins against Australia, South Africa, and England. The 16 wins place him at the top of the list of the Asian captains who have led their team in at least 10 test matches.

“The other thing is there was really was a real focus placed on Test cricket by the BCCI when Virat took over, and I think a lot of it has come from him as well – to focus more on Test cricket and winning more games home and away,” Punter added.

“Given his Test record as captain, he can walk away from the role very, very proud of what he has achieved," he concluded.