Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has heaped praise on star batter Virat Kohli for his stunning exploits during the recently held Test series in South Africa.

India played two Tests on the tour of South Africa and both the games were played on pacer-friendly tracks. While the hosts won the opening Test in Centurion by an innings and 32 runs, the visitors bounced back to win the second Test at Newlands by seven wickets and levelled the series 1-1.

Kohli registered scores of 38, 76, 46 and 12 across the two Test matches. He may have scored one half-century on the bouncy tracks in South Africa but was the most comfortable visiting batters on show.

Impressed with his performance, Manjrekar said India should be thankful that they have someone of Kohli’s class in their ranks.

“Virat Kohli will no doubt play (Test cricket) as long as possible and thank god for India, we have a Virat Kohli. He showed on this trip the kind of the challenges that batters face that there’s a big distance between him and the next best Test batter in India at least until Rishabh Pant is back,” Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo.

Manjrekar also commented on Rohit Sharma’s Test future, saying that it’s up to the Indian skipper to decide the duration of his remaining career while also adding that there’s no competition for his replacement.

“Rohit Sharma will be the man to let us know by his action on how much he wants to play Test cricket. These (Rohit and Kohli) are still batters from the old school. All the new guys will have to adapt to Test cricket. If Rohit Sharma wants to extend his Test career, it’s in his hands, there’s no competition,” he remarked.

India’s next Test assignment is scheduled against England at home. The five-match Test series is slated to get underway on January 25 in Hyderabad.