Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said India skipper Virat Kohli is the best one-day batsman in the world, but it is not yet time to call him a great of the five-day format. The Aussie cricketer told the Sydney Morning Herald:
Is he the best batsman in the world? Yeah, he probably is. I thought he was six or seven months ago and he’s probably taken it to another level since then.
Kohli had an outstanding 2016 across formats as the Test captain guided India to comprehensive wins against the West Indies, New Zealand and England before taking over the captaincy of limited overs as well. Ponting said captaincy in all formats would help Kohli further.
His (Virat Kohli’s) one-day record is outstanding and probably better than anybody that’s ever played the game given how many hundreds (27) he’s made, but let’s give him a few years yet in the Test series side of things. It’s too early yet to be talking about him being one of the greats. I think the great players we always talk about – the Tendulkars, the Laras, the Kallises – those guys played 120, 130-200 Test matches. Virat’s not even halfway along that path.Ricky Ponting, Former Australian Captain
Talking about the upcoming Australia tour of India, Ponting said the visitors will need to get Kohli out of his comfort zone to have any chances of doing well in the four-Test series.
I think he’s a similar sort of character to me as well. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s pretty animated. He’s a very aggressive player.
“Someone like Virat, you have to take his boundary-scoring areas away and make him score his runs in different areas or make him bat for a longer time to make his runs,” he added.
Australia Yet to Work Out How to Stop Kohli: Coach Lehmann
Australia have yet to work out a plan to foil India captain Virat Kohli beyond bowling well and hoping for some "luck" against the in-form batsman, coach Darren Lehmann has said.
The former test batsman said his players had been watching videos of Kohli and his teammates for months, but were yet to work out how to combat the India skipper.
For us, we’re going to have to come up with an ideal plan that works for us, depending on (the) wickets and what’s going on. At the end of the day, you’re going to have to bowl enough good balls and that’s going to be the challenge for our spinners and for our quicks, challenging his defence and making sure he’s playing in the areas we want him to play.
Michael Clarke's Australia were whitewashed 4-0 during their last tour of India in 2013 where a breakdown in team-discipline prompted former coach Mickey Arthur to sensationally stand down four players for a match for failing to complete an off-field assignment, the infamous 'homework-gate' incident.
Australia were outclassed by bat, ball and in the field during that tour, but four years later, Lehmann said Steve Smith's side have the bowlers to take 20 wickets against Kohli's men.
Kohli was man-of-the-series against England, plundering 655 runs off their bowlers at an average of 109.16 to comfortably top the batting charts during the 4-0 win in November and December.
The buccaneering 28-year-old looms as a huge obstacle to Australia's hopes of capturing a first series win in India since 2004, with the first test to start in Pune on 23 February.
Kohli has scored six of his 15 centuries in his 12 matches against Australia, averaging 60.76 compared to his overall average of 50.10.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters.)
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