Former India spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has picked Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni as the best captains in Test and white-ball formats respectively.

Kohli led India in 68 Tests, registering 40 wins, 17 losses and 11 draws. The highlight of his stint as Test captain was leading India to a series win on Australian soil in 2018-19.

Virat also holds the record for scoring the most Test runs for India as captain. In 113 innings, he amassed 5864 runs at an average of 54.80 with 20 centuries and 18 fifties.

On the other hand, Dhoni has left a massive impact on the game with his leadership. He is the only skipper in the history of cricket to have won all three ICC white-ball trophies – 2007 World T20, 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. He also led the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to five IPL titles.

“Kohli’s attacking attitude is something that he himself enjoys and celebrates. You should show your emotions. You shouldn’t be like a machine on the ground. You should have an attitude like Sir Vivian Richards who would intimidate bowlers with his eyes. Kohli’s attacking attitude and Dhoni’s calm demeanour. For me, the red ball best captain is Virat and the white ball is MS Dhoni," said Sivaramakrishnan on Sony Sport’s Tamil Cricket Podcast – Cricket Petta.

The 58-year-old hailed Sunil Gavaskar as the best captain of his playing days while he termed 1983 World Cup-winner Kapil Dev as an instinctive leader.

“Sunil Gavaskar was the best captain, I played under. He was very good with strategy and analytical in approach. Kapil Dev was a very instinctive captain. He will go with his gut instinct. He gave an extra over to Madan Lal in 1983, that’s instinctive captaincy," said Sivaramakrishnan.

“With Sunil Gavaskar, you can ask for anything but you have to justify it, why you want to do it. If you do that he will give you the freedom to set your fields and plan your attack. Venkataraghavan was also an excellent captain, he was wonderful as captain," he added.

(With inputs from Agencies)