Big shoes to fill, but Kohli is not the sort to shrink from a challenge. He is a dazzling batsman, who has the precious gift of being able to make batting look simple. South Africa, in Melbourne tomorrow , are next to take him on.
Former Australian captain and respected commentator on the game, Ian Chappell, has described Kohli as "the prince of Indian cricket".
Sanjay Manjrekar, a former Indian batsman and now commentator, said: "Virat's success does not surprise you; his failures do".
Coupled to Kohli's immense talent and fierce drive, is a forceful personality which doesn't always throw him in a favourable light.
He was front and centre in confrontations with Australian players during the recent test series across the Tasman. Opinion was divided on whether he did well to stand up to the standard Aussie bullyboy approach, or if his Mr Angry persona, reacting rather than let the verbal jabs slide past, did more damage than good.
Certainly he has a core of young players who are of like mind. Kohli has made clear he won't lie down against standover tactics from opponents.
"You have got to send the right message across. I am not there to take some unnecessary words or chats from someone. I am going there to play cricket, back myself," he said.
"There's no good reason that I should respect unnecessarily some people when they are not respecting me."
ODI cricket is Kohli's game at present. His test record is good; his ODI one is outstanding. He's hit 10 centuries in 33 tests, averaging 46.3.
It took Kohli 13 ODIs before he cracked his first century. You could say he's made up for that. At one point, Kohli hit three hundreds in eight innings in late 2011; he followed that with four in five innings in the first half of 2012.
He is the only batsman to have twice made scores of more than 50 in five successive ODI innings; and no Indian has scored a faster century against Australia than he did, in October 2013.
However, he is not superman, yet.
New Zealand's lively seamer Hamish Bennett did a superb job on Kohli at Eden Park last summer, working away just short of a good length outside his offstump.
Eventually he got him caught behind, six off 20 balls. Kohli didn't want to leave. He tends to hang about after clearcut dismissals, as if he cannot believe what has happened.
Like all outstanding batsmen he likes to dictate terms. Bowlers would know they have a chance if they can make life difficult early.
Kohli also appreciates the grand stage. After hitting an unbeaten 139 against Sri Lanka on November 14, Kohli had a lean time in the recent tri-series with England and Australia, making 9, 4, 3 not out and 8. That ended with his fine 107 against Pakistan in the titanic World Cup clash between the game's fiercest rivals at Adelaide last weekend.
India won comfortably. Kohli's innings pushed them to 300 and set up the game.
Then there's the glamorous lifestyle. Perhaps inevitably his girlfriend is a Bollywood actress, Anuskha Sharma. But it's not hard to find film of him treating the crowds of fans with disdain.
When asked during that tour how Kohli was viewed at home, a senior Indian writer observed that while his batting talent is immense, "as a person, the jury is out".
The great Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar has pointed out that "to become a good player, you need talent. To become a great player, you need an attitude like Kohli."
Attitude comes in different forms. Whatever way you look at it, Kohli has it in bucketloads.
Virat Kohli
Age:
26
Born:
New Delhi
ODIs:
151
Runs:
6339 at 51.95
100s/50s:
22/33
South Africa v India
MCG, 4.30pm tomorrow
South Africa: AB de Villiers (c), Hashim Amla, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn.
India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny.
