Courtesy: BCCI/X
Ricky Ponting, the former captain of Australia, has backed Virat Kohli to come good in the upcoming five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test series against Australia, starting on November 22, despite his poor form in the longest format of the game recently. The 49-year-old called Virat Kohli one of the greats of cricket apart from reminding everyone about his splendid returns with the bat in hand in Australia in Test cricket over the last decade or so.
Notably, in the recently concluded three-match Test series against New Zealand at home, India suffered a 0-2 defeat against all odds, coinciding with the lack of runs from Virat Kohli’s bat. In the six innings, the right-handed batter could only score 93 runs at an average of 15.50, which included a 70 in the second innings of the first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
I’ve said it before about Virat; you don’t ever question the greats of the game: Ricky Ponting
In his recent interview with the International Cricket Council (ICC), Ricky Ponting discussed the current slump of Virat Kohli as a Test batter, and said, as per the Indian Express, “I’ve said it before about Virat; you don’t ever question the greats of the game. 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 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.”
Moreover, as per the recent ICC Test batting rankings, Virat Kohli slipped out of top 20 spots for the first-time in over 10 years after averaging just 22.72 this year in six Tests, which included one against South Africa, two against Bangladesh, and the last three against New Zealand. But, despite that, Ricky Ponting is backing him to deliver the results against a fiery Australian bowling attack down under this time around.
At the same time, Ricky Ponting also expressed his concern about the lack of big scores from Virat Kohli in Tests since 2019. He remarked, “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. 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.”
