"I am not concerned about this" - Ricky Ponting gives his verdict on Virat Kohli's form in BGT 2023
Former Australian legend Ricky Ponting has consistently backed Virat Kohli to find form even when the Indian star kept struggling with the bat. The flurry of runs that followed in white-ball cricket last year proved just how good the 34-year-old is.
Kohli has had a pretty mediocre Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 with the bat so far, having scored just 111 runs from five innings. However, Ponting is confident that Kohli will turn it around in Tests too, just the way he has done in other formats.
Here's what Ricky Ponting had to say about Virat Kohli in the ICC Review:
"For Kohli, I have said that over and over, champion players always find a way. He might be in a bit of a drought at the moment, and might not be scoring runs which we all expect him to score but he is a realist as well.
"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 form of batters in BGT 2023
While India lead the series 2-1, neither of the batting line-ups have been consistent. Batters from both teams have failed to show good form and score big. A few batters' spots in their respective XIs have also been questioned.
However, Ricky Ponting feels it is a bit harsh to comment on any batter's form across both teams as he reckons the pitches have been pretty difficult to bat on. On this, he stated:
"I am not looking at anybody's form in the series because for batters it has been an absolute nightmare. Australia 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."
It will be interesting to see if India dish out a decent batting track in Ahmedabad for the final Test of the series.