Legendary Australia batter Ricky Ponting said Virat Kohli should be proud of his achievements as Test captain, especially the way he prioritized the longest format of the same in the era of T20 cricket. Ponting said what Kohli achieved with India, placing emphasis on overseas Test wins, is one of the biggest success stories in Indian cricket.
Kohli finished as India’s most successful Test captain, winning 40 out of 68 Tests, leading the team to the No. 1 ranking and the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship during his 7-year-long tenure. Under Kohli, India never lost a Test series at home and won their first-ever series in Australia, lead England 2-1 in England in an incomplete series.
“If you think about India before Virat, it was about winning a lot of games at home and not winning quite as many overseas. The thing that improved the most was India winning a few more games overseas, and that’s something that he and all of the Indian cricket have to be really proud of,” Ponting told ICC.
“The other thing is there was really was a real focus placed on Test cricket by the BCCI when Virat took over, and I think a lot of it has come from him as well – to focus more on Test cricket and winning more games home and away.
“Given his Test record as captain, he can walk away from the role very, very proud of what he has achieved.”
Meanwhile, Ponting revealed that he had a chat with Virat Kohli in March-April 2021 and the India star had discussed with him about quitting white-ball captaincy.
“Yes, it did actually (surprise me). Probably the main reason why was I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat during the first part of the IPL (2021) before it got postponed,” Ponting added.
“He was talking then about stepping away (from captaincy) from white-ball cricket and how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. He just loved and cherished that job and that post so much. Obviously, the Indian Test team had achieved a lot under his leadership. When I heard it, I was really, really surprised.
“You only have to watch him on the field for an hour of the day’s play to realise how passionate he is about that job and the role, and how much he wants the team to win and how much he wants the best for Indian cricket.
“I was shocked, but then I started thinking about other things, even my own time as captain. I have gone on record and said that I probably think I played a couple of years longer than I should have in hindsight. I think I might have been captain for a couple of years longer than I should have.
“So I think there is potentially a shelf-life for international cricket captains and even coaches. Virat’s been there for close to seven years now. If there’s a country in the world that’s the most difficult to captain, it’s probably India because of just how popular the game is and how much every single Indian loves to see the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, whether they are good or bad. You weigh all those things up.”
