He also added that Rohit Sharma would play the role well as Kohli’s successor.
Dubai, Ricky Ponting, one of Australia’s most successful captains, says he was surprised by Virat Kohli’s decision to step down from Test captaincy but believes he has done better with his batting and has done a few things. This decision must have been taken with the aim of breaking the record. Ponting praised Kohli’s leadership skills and said that under his leadership, India’s record overseas improved and they won more matches on foreign soil than before.
He also added that Rohit Sharma would play the role well as Kohli’s successor. Ricky Ponting said in the first episode of ‘The ICC Review’, “Yes, I was really surprised. I spoke to him about this in the first leg of IPL (2021).” He said, “He was talking about giving up the limited overs captaincy then and how passionate he was about captaining the Test match. He loved the job and thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I heard that I was really surprised.”
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Ponting, however, said on the basis of his experience that Kohli must have considered many things before taking this decision. He said, “Virat was the captain for almost seven years. If there is any country in the world which has the toughest job to captain, it is India because the sport is very popular there and every Indian wants to see their team win. Ponting said, “He is 33 years old and would like to continue playing for a few more years. I am sure he will set some new records which he is not far away from.”
“It might be a little easier for him as a batsman without the added responsibility of captaincy,” he added. The veteran batsman appreciated the efforts of the Indian team under Kohli’s captaincy. He even said that the efforts made by Australia under his captaincy, India’s efforts under Kohli were even better than that. Ponting said, “India’s achievements were more astonishing than ours. When I took over the captaincy, I got a team that had dominated world cricket for a long time.
He said, “If you look at India before Virat, he used to win a lot of matches at home but could not register that many wins abroad. Things got better and the team won more matches overseas.” India played 68 Test matches under Kohli, out of which he won 40, which is an Indian record.
Ricky Ponting backed his former Mumbai Indians teammate Rohit as captain in place of Kohli. He told that when he left the captaincy of Mumbai in 2013, it was he who advised Rohit to become the captain. “What he has done on behalf of Mumbai Indians is proof of that. He was a successful captain there and when he led India on a few occasions, he also captained well. (agency)