Ricky Ponting picks Virat Kohli as captain of his Test team of the decade

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Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting on Monday picked India skipper Virat Kohli to lead his all-star Test team of the decade, which featured four English players.

Ponting's Test team of the 2010s doesn't feature any other Indian apart from Kohli, who is currently ranked No.1 in both ICC Test and ODI rankings for batsmen.

The Englishmen in his team include all-rounder Ben Stokes, batsman Alastair Cook, and the pace duo of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Among the Australians, he has opted for Steve Smith and David Warner along with spinner Nathan Lyon.

"Everyone's picking teams of the decade so I thought I'd join in the fun," Ponting wrote on his Twitter handle.

"This would be my Test team of the 2010's: David Warner, Alastair Cook, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli (c), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Ben Stokes, Dale Steyn, Nathan Lyon, Stuart Broad, James Anderson."

Kohli has already amassed 70 international hundreds and is only behind Ponting (71) and Sachin Tendulkar (100).

The 31-year-old from Delhi, who averages more than 50 in all formats, is also third in the list of leading run-scorers of all time with 21,444 runs, behind Ponting (27,483) and Tendulkar (34,357).

The India skipper, who has scored runs all around the world, ended 2019 as the leading run-getter. Kohli holds the number one position in both the ICC Test and ODI batting charts.

Kohli was also named captain of the Test XI of the decade by Cricket Australia's official news website.