Former Australian icon Ricky Ponting has long supported Virat Kohli and stood by him despite his recent struggles with the bat. Nevertheless, the former Indian captain silenced most critics with a flurry of runs in white-ball cricket last year, reminding us of how good he is. Kohli’s form has been far from impressive in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 thus far, yielding just 111 runs from five innings. But the Aussie legend remains optimistic, backing the 34-year-old to turn his fortunes around in Tests like in other formats. He might be in a drought at the moment and might not be scoring runs which we all expect him to score, but he is also a realist. This is what Ricky Ponting had to say in the ICC Review: “For Kohli, I have said that over and over, champion players always find a way.
“When you are a batsman, and you are struggling and not scoring runs, you are pretty aware of that yourself. I am not concerned about this because I am confident he will bounce back.”
Ricky Ponting on the form of batters in ongoing series
While India leads the series 2-1, both of the batting line-ups have yet to be able to provide consistent performances. The batters from both teams have not had much success and failed to post big scores, with some even questioning their place in the XIs. It’s unfair to comment on any batsman’s form in this series, citing the difficult pitches being a major factor. The pitches haven’t been the easiest to bat on, so you can’t be too critical of individual performances.
“I am not looking at anybody’s form in the series because for batters it has been an absolute nightmare. Australians have done a remarkable job by turning around those first two Test matches and coming back to win the third. We all know batting has been so incredibly difficult.
“And it has not been because of the turn, but also the uneven bounce which makes you lose trust in the wicket and if that happens you are guessing all the time which makes batting really difficult.”
