Recently, legendary Australian cricketer, Ricky Ponting commented on the struggles of former India captain Virat Kohli. He has come and support of Kohli, saying that he would continue to push the star batter because he knows the upside and that any opposition attack would be having a sigh of relief if India decides to drop him. Reacting to the same, West Indies coach Phil Simmons had his say on Kohli’s place in the Indian team and gave his verdict on the star batter opting to rest through the limited-overs tour of West Indies.

Kohli has been struggling to score a century in the last 78 innings which dates back to November 23 of 2019. In his last IPL season, he only managed to maintain a below-par strike rate of just 116, which was among the lowest. And on his return to international cricket after a break following IPL, Kohli managed to record a forgettable England tour. Yet, Ricky Ponting came in support of the batter.

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When asked by senior sports journalist Vimal Kumar on Ponting’s comment and how he would react had he been the Indian coach, Phil Simmons responded saying, “Well, I ain’t the coach of the Indian team. Rahul (Dravid) will have to make that decision. He’s there. If I was there I would think about it and how I would go about that job.”

Along with six other players, which includes Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli will not be part of the West Indies tour as they have all been rested. However, the former Indian skipper has been subjected to face criticism once again for opting to rest amid his poor run of form with the bat.

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Reacting to Kohli’s absence, Phil Simmons said, “I am not happy that people are not there because you want to play against the best players and we all know that Virat’s record is says that he is one of the best of all-time. So yes I am disappointed and it would have nice had he been here. I’m sure all the guys would have loved the competition. Criticisms are everywhere. I’m sure people want him to do well all the time and nobody can do things well all the time.”