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Cricket Players'T20 is more of an older man’s game': Ricky Ponting's stunning take on Virat Kohli's sensational form in T20 World Cup
Talking on the ICC Website, the 47-year old called Kohli a champion player of all three formats and opined that he might do great for Team India in the knockout games too.
Virat Kohli has brought out seemingly the best second phase of his career, in the ongoing T20 World Cup. He is running rampage through the opponents with his classy strokes and unbeaten knocks. The right-handed batter has scored 220 runs in four matches at an incredible average of 220 in the tournament. He is the second highest run scorer in the tournament, only three runs short of Sri Lanka's Kusal Mendis who has scored 223 runs.
Kohli's impact for Team India in this edition of the T20 World Cup can be gauged by the fact that Men in Blue have won three matches and the former India captain scored half-centuries each time. The 34-year old was the highest scorer with unbeaten 82 runs against arch-rivals Pakistan as India emerged victorious by four wickets.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who is touted as one of the greatest cricketers of all time, has never shied away from showing his appreciation for Kohli. Talking on the ICC Website, the 47-year old called Kohli a champion player of all three formats and opined that he might do great for Team India in the knockout games too.
“He’s been a champion player of the game in all three formats for a long period of time. One thing I’ve learnt about champion players, in this game in particular, is you just never write them off. They always tend to find a way, particularly when it matters most, to dig deep enough and find a way to get a job done,” said Ponting.
The 47-year old further shared how Kohli's experience was faring well for Team India in the tournament.
"In that number three slot, let him feel comfortable, let him work his way into the tournament. I've also learned about the T20 game over the years that I've been involved, is it's more of an older man's game, or older person's game, than a young man's game. Just with the knowledge and the know-how and the expertise in situations like Virat has been confronted with a couple of times. They've done it before, and they tend to find a way to get it done more often than not," Ponting explained
“India now are reaping the rewards of keeping him there and if they go on to the next stage then I’m sure he’ll produce something big in one of the finals as well,” said the two-time World Cup winning captain.
Ponting shared that he had expected a great innings from Kohli against arch-rivals Pakistan at the start of the T20 World Cup, and that's exactly what had transpired.
“If you wind the clock back about a week, start of this tournament; India, Pakistan, right here at the MCG — that was what I thought might happen. “Virat rolling the clock back a little bit, playing a match-winning knock, being man of the match in what I think is one of the best sporting spectacles that I’ve ever seen,” he said about the historic four-wicket win by India.
Talking about Kohli's transformation after battling a serious dip in form for a long time before the Asia Cup 2022, Ponting highlighted the role of family and teammates who might have stood by his side during his hard times.
“(It’s) a great learning experience for Virat as a cricket person, to actually get to a point in his career when he had to change, had to do something different,” Ponting said.
“We know he’s always been a really hard worker, he’s always been fit, always looked after his diet and been a great trainer. That worked for him up until a certain period of time where he had to look elsewhere and find other ways to get back to being a great player again. “At the end of the day, we all play the game to try and do the right thing by our family, by our teammates and our fans. And that’s probably the order that it goes in, to be honest.
“You want to make your family proud, you want to win games for your teammates and you want to have the people that turn up to watch, whether it’s at the venue or through the TV screens, you want them to be proud of what you’ve done as well.”
