Sourav Ganguly described Virat Kohli as “a run machine” after the current India captain added yet another century to his ever-growing list on Saturday.

“His batting has been truly fantastic. He’s a run machine,” said the Board of Control for Cricket in India president.

Kohli hit his 27th Test century with 18 fours on the second day of the Day-Night Test against Bangladesh.

He equalled Ricky Ponting’s record of 41 international centuries as captain, but surpassed the former Australia captain’s tally of 19 Test hundreds as skipper. Only former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith has more Test centuries than Kohli with 25 tons to his name as captain.

According to Sourav, himself a former India captain, Kohli made it look like as if sighting the pink ball was easier than the red one.

“The way Virat played, it looked facing the pink ball was actually easier than what it is against the red ball. All of us have seen, so I don’t think there was any problem to see the pink ball,” Sourav said.

For Anshuman Gaekwad, Kohli is simply a genius. “He didn’t have to do much to reach the century. He’s a genius.”

Gaekwad feels Kohli did the right thing by taking a break during the T20Is versus Bangladesh. “He looks doubly strong after the break. I think the break helped him a lot,” the former India player and coach said.

Dilip Vengsarkar enjoyed Kohli’s batting and called it a treat for the eyes. “Virat is a fantastic cricketer. I enjoyed his batting. He was excellent today and is always a treat to watch. A relief for the eyes,” the former India captain and chief selector said.

Coming back to Day-Night Tests, Sourav said it’s too early to say whether India would be playing a pink-ball game during their tour of Australia next year. “How can I say now whether India will play the pink-ball Test there? It’s still too early,” Sourav commented.

Gaekwad thinks playing with the pink ball doesn’t make any major difference or calls for any fundamental

readjustment in technique or temperament. “I don’t think the pink ball makes any difference. It is as good or bad as any other cricket ball. Only the colour and the shine are different,” he said.

Day-Night Tests may well be the future of the longest format of the game, he said. “When we played, we didn’t have to play with white balls. Now you’ve pink balls. In two years’ time, we may see orange balls too. It all depends. Test cricket needs to be seen from the crowd’s point of view too.”