MELBOURNE: Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh today hailed Virat Kohli's leadership, saying he sees elements of himself and his successor Ricky Ponting in the Indian's leadership. "There's probably elements of Ricky and myself in his captaincy, but having said that he's his own man," Waugh said.
The legendary cricketer applauded Kohli, who has been at the receiving end of constant verbal attacks from the visiting Australian team and media in the ongoing four-Test series, for his ability to make his side play as a unit.
"He's obviously a very aggressive captain, he encourages a lot of talk amongst his troops and he's got positive body language. And they're all the traits that I liked in my sides," Waugh was quoted as saying by 'cricket.com.au'.
"I always believed the way you carry yourself is important, that you give off positive vibes to each other and the opposition sort of sense that 'this is a team that's really together'. Virat Kohli certainly does that. His players play for him, which is a great sign for a captain.
"Ricky Ponting was a similar type of player; he'd roll his sleeves up, get stuck in, he'd go into bat pad if he needed to and led by example. And Virat Kohli certainly does that," he added. Though he is only in the early stages of captaincy, Kohli has already enjoying an impressive record and Waugh labelled his combative style as "the new face of India".
"He's the new face of India, he can get in your face, he's aggressive, he's positive, and he leads in a certain way so the other guys know how he wants the team to play. "(But also) I'm glad he's got a bit of me in his captaincy," said Waugh.