Ponting, one of the vital profitable captains ever, hailed Kohli for his management abilities, saying that below him India had improved its abroad report by winnings extra Assessments overseas than earlier than.
He additionally backed Rohit Sharma to do effectively as Kohli’s successor.
“Sure, it did really (shock me)…I used to be shocked… Most likely the principle purpose why I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat in the course of the first a part of the IPL (2021) earlier than it acquired postponed,” Ponting stated within the first episode of ‘The ICC Assessment’.
“He was speaking then about stepping away (from captaincy) from white-ball cricket and the way passionate he was to proceed on to be Check match captain. He simply cherished and cherished that job and that publish a lot. Once I heard it, I used to be actually, actually shocked.”
However upon reflection of his personal expertise as captain, Ponting felt Kohli should have weighed in lots of components earlier than his determination.
Virat Kohli. (Photograph by Grant Pitcher/Gallo Photographs/Getty Photographs)
“There’s probably a shelf-life for worldwide cricket captains and even coaches. Virat’s been there for near seven years now. If there is a nation on this planet that is essentially the most tough to captain, it is most likely India due to simply how in style the sport is and the way a lot each single Indian likes to see the fortunes of the staff.
“He’s 33 years of age now and he’ll wish to proceed taking part in for a couple of extra years I’m certain and have a crack at breaking some information that he’s not far off breaking.
“Possibly if he does that as a batter and with out the additional accountability of captaincy, it’d make it a bit simpler for him,” Ponting stated.
The legendary batter lauded the efforts of the Indian staff below Kohli, even going as far as to say the staff’s efforts have been extra “staggering” than that of Australia below his captaincy.
“It was extra of a staggering achievement for India than it was for us. Once I took over, I took over a aspect that had dominated world cricket for a very long time.
“If you concentrate on India earlier than Virat, it was about profitable lots of video games at house and never profitable fairly as many abroad. The factor that improved most was India profitable a couple of extra video games abroad…”
“There was an actual focus positioned on Check cricket by BCCI when Virat took over, and I feel lots of it has come from him as effectively – to focus extra on Check cricket and profitable extra video games house and away.”
Rohit Sharma. (Photograph by Mike Hewitt/Getty Photographs)
Ponting stated given his Check report as captain, Kohli can stroll away from the function very happy with what he has achieved.
No different Indian skipper has captained India in additional Assessments (68) or gained extra matches (40) than Kohli. India misplaced simply 5 of the 24 sequence below his captaincy.
At house, India did not lose a single sequence with Kohli as captain. Actually, they misplaced simply two out of 31 matches.
Away from house, Kohli’s India gained 16 out of 36 matches, with a formidable win proportion of 44.44, the very best for an Indian or Asian captain who has led their staff in at the least 10 matches.
Ponting rated India’s 2-1 triumph within the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar as Kohli’s best sequence win as captain. It was that sequence victory that broke India’s jinx — it was their first Check sequence win in Australia.
Ponting backed his former Mumbai Indians team-mate Rohit to fill Kohli’s footwear. He stated it was him who recommended Rohit to steer Mumbai Indians when he needed to step down from that function after detached kind in 2013.
“The proof is within the pudding with what he has carried out at Mumbai Indians. He has been a really profitable chief there and has been when he has led India on a couple of events as effectively.”