Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting on Sunday (December 27) said Virat Kohli will be India's captain for "as long as he wants to".
WATCH - Ricky Ponting praises Mohammed Siraj after "promising" debut at MCG
In order to attend the birth of his first child, Kohli returned home after the first Test at the Adelaide Oval, which India lost by 8 wickets.
In Kohli's absence, Ajinkya Rahane is leading the visiting side Down Under and has done a fabulous job in the ongoing Boxing Day Test at MCG.
Having bowled out Australia for 195 on Day 1, India have posted 277/5 at stumps on Day 2, taking a lead of 82 runs with Rahane (104*) and Ravindra Jadeja (40*) still unbeaten at the crease.
"I think he's done a great job to pick up the pieces from Adelaide with this team, led really well in the field yesterday and you can see he's playing like a captain now as well," cricket.com.au quoted Ponting as saying.
"He wants to play that captain's knock; he wants to get a hundred in Virat's absence and do the best thing he can to try and drag his country and his team back into this series. Virat will be captain of India as long as he wants to, but if he thinks standing down is going to make him an even better player, then that's a scary thing for world cricket," he added.
Rahane, Jadeja showed immense determination and shared an unbeaten stand of 104 runs for the sixth wicket to take India to a commanding position.
Ponting further lauded Rahane's captaincy and the way he lifted the team after an embarrassing defeat in the series opener.
"I'm not doubting Kohli's captaincy skills or credentials at all, I'm just saying it's going to take something special to pick up the pieces and Rahane's been able to do that so far. I don't think there'll be pressure from anywhere else for Kohli to do that but let's wait and see. He's almost played a (Cheteshwar) Pujara-like innings," Ponting stated.
"No thrills, he's hit very few boundaries but he's just continually backing his defence and trying to wear the Australian bowlers down. I think the Australians have not made him cover drive enough. I think they've been a little bit short and they've plugged that cover region," he remarked.
