Captaincy is Kohli's 'as long as he wants it': Ponting

Ricky Ponting has praised Ajinkya Rahane's leadership in the wake of the Adelaide annihilation but insists the full-time job remains Virat Kohli's for as long as he wants it.

Rahane expertly marshalled his troops on day one of the Boxing Day Test as India bowled out Australia for 195 and backed it up with the bat on day two with his 12th Test century to put his side in a strong position to level the series.

Having watched Rahane lead from the front at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Ponting has been impressed by what he's seen of the touring skipper since taking over the reins following the first Vodafone Test at the Adelaide Oval, where India were bowled out for their lowest-ever Test score of 36.

"I think he's done a great job to pick up the pieces from Adelaide with this team, lead really well in the field yesterday and you can see he's playing like a captain now as well," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"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."

While Rahane has impressed as the stand-in skipper, Ponting expects Kohli to return as captain for India's next tour.

Under Kohli's captaincy, India have won 14 of 20 completed Test series, losing four times (all away from home) and was in charge the last time his country visited Australia and won their first Test series on these shores.

Kohli also averages 60.61 with the bat as captain, so the burden of leadership does not appear to hinder his output as a batter.

But should he one day decide to give up leading the side to focus on his batting, Ponting believes it could be an unwelcome decision by bowlers the world over.

"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," Ponting said.

"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."

Rahane brought up his century in the final session with India holding a 82-run lead when stumps was called early with the tourists at 5-277.

It wasn't a knock without luck – he edged one between wicketkeeper and second slip when on 57, was dropped by Steve Smith at second slip when he was 73 and then by Travis Head from the final ball of the day – all off Mitchell Starc’s bowling.

Those mistakes aside, the right-hander was judicious with his stroke play on a wicket that's assisted spin and seam bowling and against a ball that's moved in the air for most of the day.

And while he struck 12 boundaries, it's Rahane's defence that stood out to Ponting.

"He's almost played a (Cheteshwar) Pujara-like innings," Ponting said.

"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 haven't made him cover drive enough. I think they've been a little bit short and they've plugged that cover region.

"That nick that we saw that went between Paine and Smith, I think that could have been covered with another slip in place and leave the cover area open."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT