Gautam Gambhir Slams Ponting For Criticising Kohli: Indian Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir has slammed former Australia captain Ricky Ponting for criticising Virat Kohli’s current form. Know more about Gambhir Slams Ponting For Criticising Kohli below in detail.
Kohli has undoubtedly been the best Indian batter since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar. He has been a mainstay and has engineered countless wins for the Indian Cricket Team across all formats for over a decade now. With 50 tons in ODIs, 29 in Tests, and one in T20I, he has the most 100s for any active cricketer with 80.
However Gambhir Slams Ponting For Criticising Kohli, Virat will also be an integral part of the squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, as India will play five Test matches in some of the toughest conditions Down Under.
However, the former Indian captain is not in the best form in 2024. In the six Test matches he has played in 2024, Kohli has only crossed the 50-run mark once. In the recent three-match series against New Zealand, he scored only 93 runs in six innings, 70 of which came in a single one.
Gambhir Slams Ponting For Criticising Kohli: In fact, the 36-year-old has only scored two centuries in the longest format of the game in the last five years, in which time he has played 34 Tests.
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Ponting, who has coached the national team previously and will be the head coach of the Punjab Kings in IPL 2025, criticised Virat Kohli for his poor form in Test cricket, claiming that if he were any other player, he would have been dropped from the team a long time.
“I saw a stat the other day about Virat; it said he’s only scored two (three) Test hundreds in the last five years. That didn’t seem right to me, but if that is right, then that is, I mean, that’s a concern. There wouldn’t be anyone else probably even playing international cricket as a top-order batsman that’s only scored two Test match hundreds in five years. I’ve said it before about Virat: you don’t ever question the greats of the game. There’s no doubt; he’s a great of the game. He loves playing against Australia. In fact, I know he loves playing against Australia. And as I said, his record (in Australia) is very good. If there’s a time for him to turn it around, it’d be this series. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see Virat make runs in the first game,” said Ricky in an episode of the ICC Review.
Gautam Gambhir Slams Ponting For Criticising Kohli
Well, this criticism did not sit right with Gautam Gambhir, who clapped back at Ricky Ponting for even getting involved in the affairs of the Indian Cricket Team during the press conference ahead of the India vs Australia Test series. The head coach said,
“What does Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? I think he should think about Australian cricket and, more importantly, have got no concerns whatsoever for Virat and Rohit. I think they are incredibly tough men.”
Gambhir went on to highlight how much Kohli and Rohit, the latter of which might not play in the first Test due to the birth of his second child, have done for Indian cricket.
“They’ve achieved a lot for Indian cricket, and they will continue to achieve a lot in the future as well. I think for me, the most important thing is that they still work really hard and are still passionate; they still want to achieve a lot more, and that is something which is very important,” he added.
The first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played in Perth’s Optus Stadium and will start on November 22. Then, after matches in Adelaide (Adelaide Oval), Brisbane (Gabba), and Melbourne (MCG), the final match of the series will be played from January 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
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