Virat Kohli has taken batsmanship to another level since the last seven months, says Ricky Ponting

New Delhi: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has hailed Indian skipper as the best batsmen of the current generation.

"Is he the best batsman in the world? Yeah, he probably is," Ponting said in an interview in Abu Dhabi.

"I thought he was six or seven months ago and he's probably taken it to another level since then."

Kohli, who recently became India's full-time limited-overs skipper, had been in sensational form across formats in 2016. He started 2017 with a bang as well with a match-winning 27th ODI ton against England.

Ponting, who is widely regarded as one of finest batsmen to have played the game, said that the Aussies will have to take the Delhi batsman out of his comfort zone in order to do well in the upcoming Test series.

"The one thing about Virat Kohli is whenever there's any confrontation, he does get a little bit outside of his comfort zone. You can see that he gets ultra-aggressive, which may be a good thing for him or maybe good for the opposition," he said.

"We will wait and see what happens. I think he's a similar sort of character to me as well. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He's pretty animated. He's a very aggressive player.

"One thing I learnt about playing in India is the momentum that the home team can create, you have to try and stop that.

"Someone like Virat, you have to take his boundary-scoring areas away and make him score his runs in different areas or make him bat for a longer time to make his runs."

The four-match Test series between India and Australia will kick off from February 23.