IND vs AUS 1st T20I: Ahead of the T20I series between India and Australia set to be kicked off on September 20, former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting has shed some light on Kohli's return to form and his claim to Sachin Tendulkar's invincible throne of most hundreds in International Cricket. Former Indian captain Virat Kohli is back in runs as he had a wonderful outing in the Asia Cup 2022.
The 33-year-old Kohli ended his century drought in the match against Afghanistan as he notched up his 71st International ton, equalling Ricky Ponting's record of second highest century maker in International cricket. With Kohli hitting a ton nearly after three years, there are again talks about whether Kohli can surpass Legendary Sachin's record of 100 tons.
In a recent ICC Review episode, former Australian Legend Ricky Ponting has given his views on Virat Kohli's return to form and whether he can break Sachin's record. "It’s great to see him back in the runs. Great to see him back with a smile on his face. That’s the thing you know?” Ponting said.
The former Australian skipper also said that the former Indian skipper has scored a ton after a lot of time but Sachin's record is still not beyond him. "If you would have asked me three years before (whether Virat can surpass Sachin's record), I’d have said yes. But the fact that it has slowed down as much as it did… yeah, I still think that it is possible for Virat, there’s no doubt," Ponting said in a recent ICC review episode.
Ponting also gave a breakdown of how Virat can score 30 tons to become the new record holder of most tons in International cricket. "I still think Virat has got a number of years ahead of him, but I guess to still be 30 international hundreds behind, that’s a lot of numbers. That’s five or six Test hundreds a year maybe for the next three or four years. If you throw a couple of one-day tons, maybe the odd T20 ones on top of it," the three-time World Cup winner Ponting added.
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Ricky Ponting has backed Virat Kohli even when he was not at his best recently. The former Australian captain also said that now as Virat Kohli has got a ton while opening the batting in a T20I game, the Indian selectors will have to do some thinking on whether Kohli should play up the order in the T20 World Cup.
"The question we’re going to keep asking is, well I’m sure, the Indian selectors are asking the same question, does that create more of a problem than we thought with Virat getting that hundred while opening the batting? What are we going to do now going into the T20 World Cup?" Ponting said.
Team India is set to lock horns against Australia in a three-match T20I series starting on 20th September in Mohali. They will play the second match on 23rd September in Nagpur followed by the third one on 25th September in Hyderabad.
