Bumrah 'best in the world': Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has declared Jasprit Bumrah "the best bowler in the world" following the superstar paceman's player-of-the-match performance in the third Domain Test in Melbourne.

Bumrah took a career-best 6-33 in the first innings and added another three in the second as India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy largely off the back of the outstanding exploits of the 25-year-old, who has 20 wickets for the series.

"Jasprit obviously is the best bowler in the world," Kohli said post-match. "He is a match winner, without doubt.

"The mindset he has is what separates him from anyone else in the world right now. He looks at the pitch and he doesn't think, 'It's a hard toil on these wickets'. He thinks, 'How can I make a breakthrough for the team?'.

"Your mindset separates you from the rest and he is as strong-headed as I have seen anyone in the past, and that's the key to his success. That's what I have seen in the past 12 months."

Bumrah only made his Test debut in January and has already picked up five-wicket hauls in Australia, England and South Africa, becoming the only Indian paceman in Test history to achieve that particular feat. He finishes 2018 with 48 wickets from nine Tests, fourth on the worldwide list and second among speedster to only South Africa's Kagiso Rabada (52 in 10 Tests).

Kohli believes his rapid development in Test cricket is only set to continue.

"The way he has matured in Test cricket and the areas he has bowled so quickly in his Test career, I think it's a scary sign for the batsmen around the world in Test cricket," he said.

"I mean, if there is a pitch like Perth, I wouldn't want to face Jasprit Bumrah, to be honest, because if he gets on a roll he can really crank it up.

"And the way he bowls is so much more different to anyone, and I think he realises that more than the batsmen, and that's why he is so confident about his skills."

The skipper also revealed that Bumrah's surprising selection in South Africa almost 12 months ago came off the back of not only his white-ball form, but his work ethic.

"The fact that he was showing amazing levels of energy and fitness in white-ball cricket and hence he was so good," Kohli added with regards to that initial selection.

"He was not giving runs with the new ball, he was getting wickets, he would come back in the death overs and not bowl one loose delivery.

"(And) he was training like he wanted to play Test cricket – he was that obsessed about his fitness levels and his work ethic.

"So we discussed before South Africa that if we put him as a surprise package he could be lethal if he gets his lines and lengths right."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: India won by 137 runs

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar