Former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting said Virat Kohli should feel proud of himself for his achievements as the captain of the Indin Test team, especially the way he prioritized Test cricket n the era of T20 cricket. Virat Kohli finished as India’s most successful Test captain, as he win 40 out of 68 Tests, leading the team to the No. 1 ranking and the final of the inaugural edition of the World TestChampionship during his 7-year-long tenure.
Under Kohli, India never lost a Test series at home and won their first-ever series in Australia. However, Virat Kohli helped raise quite a few eyebrows when he signed as the Indian Test captaincy earlier this month, a day after the Asian giants lost a Test series in South Africa. Kohli had said in September 2021 that he wanted to continue as India’s ODI and Test captain but he was sacked as ODI captain after the T20 World Cup.
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During a recent chat with ICC, as per the quotes in India Today, Ricky Ponting said, “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. “
He further elaborated, “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, Ricky Ponting revealed that he had a chat with Virat Kohli in March-April 2021 and the former Indian skipper had discussed with him about quitting white-ball captaincy. However, he added that he was “very, very surprised” when Kohli announced his decision to quit Test captaincy, revealing that Kohli had told him how much passionate he is as India’s Test captain.
Explaining the same, Ricky Ponting said, “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. 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.”
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Recalling it further Ricky Ponting said, “You only have to watch him on the field for an hour of the day’s play to realize how passionate he is about that job and the role, how much he wants the team to win, and how much he wants the best for Indian cricket. 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.”
