Virat Kohli is in sublime form of his life as he has scored 708 runs in 14 matches in the ongoing IPL 2024 and has played an important role in taking his team to the playoffs but still there are few people who keep criticizing the Indian cricketer.
Before the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup was announced, there were many who were demanding that Virat Kohli should not be selected as his strike rate is low and he also faces problems in playing spinners.
The former Aussie cricketer Ricky Ponting is quite surprised with the treatment that Virat Kohli gets by the Indians, he said, “He (Kohli) is the first pick for me for India. So, class and experience like that, you can’t replace. It’s funny with Virat. I think people in India just always try to find a reason not to pick him or a reason why he is maybe not as good as some of these other guys in the T20 game.”
Ricky Ponting also talked about the opening options for team India, he said, “They (selectors) have still got a decision to make (on the opening pair) because (Yashasvi) Jaiswal is in that squad and one thing they haven’t got a lot in their team is left-hand batters. So they’ve got a decision to make with Jaiswal (batting position), but I’m pretty sure that they’ll go with Kohli and Rohit Sharma (as openers).”
He further added, “He can play his role at the top. And if you’ve got the right guys around him scoring (like) Suryakumar (Yadav)… Rohit Sharma’s going to have a high strike rate. These other guys can go in there and play their way.”
Do you agree with Ricky Ponting?
