Former Australia captain and one of the best batters of all time, Ricky Ponting, has said that he is concerned about Virat Kohli’s form ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Speaking on the latest episode of ICC Review, Ponting said that any other batter, who would score 2 hundreds in last 5 years would be dropped from the national team.
Ponting’s comments come after India’s historic whitewash against New Zealand, where Virat Kohli performed terribly and scored only 93 runs. This was one of Kohli’s worst Test series in recent times, where he was not able to have any impact of the game. Kohli’s issues with spin were highlighted against the likes of Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel, where the batter got out in uncharacteristic fashion.
“I saw a stat the other day about Virat, it said he’s only scored two (three) Test hundreds in the last five years. That didn’t seem right to me, but if that is right, then that is, I mean, that’s a concern,” Ponting said.
“There wouldn’t be anyone else probably even playing international cricket as a top-order batsman that’s only scored two Test match hundreds in five years.”
However, despite Kohli’s recent dip, Ponting has backed the batter to make a strong comeback in the tour of Australia. India are under the pump ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as they cannot afford to lose a single Test match in the series, if they are to reach the final of the World Test Championship. India have to win at least 4 matches to ensure a direct qualification to the final of the tournament.
“I’ve said it before about Virat, you don’t ever question the greats of the game,” said Ponting. “There’s no doubt, he’s a great of the game.
“He loves playing against Australia. In fact, I know he loves playing against Australia. And as I said, his record (in Australia) is very good. If there’s a time for him to turn it around, it’d be this series.
“So I wouldn’t be surprised to see Virat make runs in the first game.”
