'Champion players always find a way' - Ricky Ponting opens up on Virat Kohli’s struggle in Test Cricket

Virat Kohli and Ricky Ponting: (Image Source: Twitter)

Considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of cricket, Virat Kohli has gone through the worst form of his career over the last two-three years. However, he has found his rhythm in the shorter formats of the game, ending his three-year long century drought in the Asia Cup last year and playing a match-winning knock against arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2022 20-20 World Cup. But since 2019, the former Indian captain has not been able to play a remarkable innings in red ball cricket.

The media, former cricketers and fans across the country slammed Kohli's poor form and many even suggested to drop him from India's playing XI. But he gave a befitting reply to all those critics with his batting heroics in white ball cricket.

Everyone expected him to continue his form in Tests as well, but unfortunately, the ace batter has not been able to perform well so far, inviting criticism again. Meanwhile, Australian legend Ricky Ponting expressed confidence that Kohli will return to his best soon, saying "champion players always find a way".

Speaking on Cricket Governing Body's podcast, Ponting said:

"For Kohli, I have said that over and over, champion players always find a way. He might be in a bit of a drought at the moment, might be not scoring runs which we all expect him to score but he is a realist as well. When you are a batsman and your are struggling and not scoring runs, you are pretty aware of that yourself. I am not concerned about this because I am confident he will bounce back."

No batter can be judged based on the ongoing BGT series, says Ponting

Kohli is currently part of the Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia. But he has yet to play his best innings of the series as he could scored just 111 runs in five innings. Talking about the BGT series, Ponting said that it is difficult to judge anyone based on this series and said it was an "absolute nightmare" for the batters.

"I am not looking at anybody's form in the series because for batters it has been an absolute nightmare. Australia have done a remarkable job by turning around those first two Test matches and coming back to win the third. We all know batting has been so incredibly difficult. And it has not been because of the turn, but also the uneven bounce which makes you lose trust in the wicket and if that happens you are guessing all the time which makes batting really difficult," he added.

Kohli will look to bounce back in the fourth Test against Australia as India would want to clinch the series and book their place in the World Test Championship final at London's Oval in June.