Is Captain Kohli carrying on Ricky Ponting's legacy?
What's the story
In Virat Kohli, Team India has found a fearless leader, who knows how to lead from the front.
If MS Dhoni took the captaincy standards to a different space, Kohli created his own recipe of success.
His unabashed method of captaincy runs parallel to Ricky Ponting's era back in 2000s.
Let us decipher the similarities between Captain Kohli and Ponting.
Domination
Kohli's Team India is invincible at home
Ever since Kohli took over the captaincy in 2014, India have asserted dominance in the longest format.
Kohli's approach of captaincy certainly takes us back to 2000s when Australia were deemed invincible at home.
Australia won as many as 10 consecutive home Test series from 2004 to 2008.
Interestingly, India have also won 10 back-to-back Test series at home since 2015.
Bowlers' captain
Kohli backs his fast bowlers in every condition
Australia have always been renowned for their lethal bowling attack across formats.
The likes of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shane Warne were duly backed during Ponting's tenure.
Much akin to Ponting, Kohli has braced his seamers to thrive in every condition, over the years.
And surprisingly, India's contemporary pace battery has contributed more than the batting unit in the recent past.
Aggression
Aggression suits Kohli's gameplay
The former Australian skipper always had a knack of winning matches single-handedly.
His meticulous approach of 'going for the kill' clinched plenty of victories.
Meanwhile, aggression also gets the best out of Kohli. His counterattacking innings against a fiery Mitchell Johnson in the 2014 Adelaide Test despite chasing 363, makes us draw comparisons with Ponting.
Interestingly, Kohli's aggression has been lauded by several Aussies.
Batting
Kohli's batting has culminated as a captain
Ricky Ponting was always blessed with immaculate stroke-play.
However, his batting further blossomed after he took charge of Australia.
From 2005 to 2008, he smashed as many as 15 Test tons and averaged 69.86.
So is the case with Virat Kohli, who has racked up 5,142 of his 7,240 Test runs as a skipper.
Captain Kohli averages 61.21 as compared to 53.62 (overall).
Do you know?
Kohli struck his 41st ton as captain in 2019
Virat Kohli emulated Ricky Ponting's record of most international centuries as a captain, in 2019. Both captains have equal number of tons (41). Overall, Kohli (70) is one century shy of equalling Ponting (71) in the list, led by Sachin Tendulkar (100).
Record
Kohli is following the footsteps of Ponting
With 33 wins in 55 matches, Kohli has already become India's most successful Test captain, leaving behind MS Dhoni.
Similarly, Ponting finished his career after registering most wins as a captain for Australia. He led Australia to 48 victories.
There are uncanny similarities between these two greats and just like Ponting, Kohli will go down as one of the greatest captains of all time.