Why Ricky Ponting In Awe Of Virat Kohli As Test Captain Of Indian Cricket

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that Indian cricket team’s efforts under Virat Kohli were “more staggering” than that of Australia team under him in Test cricket. (More Cricket News)

After already leaving T20I captaincy and losing the role in ODIs, Virat Kohli eventually stepped down as India’s most successful Test skipper on January 15 this year. Kohli captained India in 68 Test matches, winning 40 of them. He lost just 17 and drew 11.

It is worth highlighting that Kohli has the fourth highest win percentage (58.82) among the captains who have led their sides for more than 20 games in the format. Given that all the other three - Steve Waugh, Don Bradman and Ponting - on the list are Australians, Kohli becomes the Asian captain with highest win percentage in the mentioned category.

"It was more of a staggering achievement for India than it was for us," said Ponting in the first episode of the ‘The ICC Review’.

"When I took over, I took over a side that had dominated world cricket for a long time,” Ponting, who led Australia in 77 Tests with 48 wins to his credit, added.

Under Virat Kohli, India played 36 Test matches overseas, bagging 16 of them with a win percentage of 44.44.

"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,” said Ponting.

Meanwhile, the batting legend of Australia feels that BCCI put more emphasis on Test cricket after Kohli took over India’s captaincy in the format.

"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," said the 47-year-old.

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