Virat Kohli informed me how passionate he was to proceed as India’s Test captain in 2021: Ricky Ponting

Legendary Australia batter Ricky Ponting mentioned Virat Kohli ought to be happy with his achievements as Test captain, particularly the best way he prioritized the longest format of the identical within the period of T20 cricket. Ponting mentioned what Kohli achieved with India, putting emphasis on abroad Test wins, is likely one of the greatest success tales in Indian cricket.

Virat Kohli completed as India’s most profitable Test captain, profitable 40 out of 68 Tests, main the staff to the No. 1 rating and the ultimate of the inaugural version of the World Test Championship throughout his 7-year-long tenure. Under Kohli, India by no means misplaced a Test collection at house and gained their first-ever collection in Australia, lead England 2-1 in England in an incomplete collection.However, Virat Kohli helped elevate fairly a couple of eyebrows when he stepped down as India’s Test captain in January, a day after the Asian giants misplaced a Test collection in South Africa. Kohli had mentioned in September final yr that he wished to proceed as India’s ODI and Test captain however he was sacked as ODI captain after the T20 World Cup. Following a dramatic flip of occasions throughout which he alleged lack of communication between him and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Kohli took the choice to give up Test captaincy as effectively.”If you think about India before Virat, it was about winning a lot of games at home and not winning quite as many overseas. The thing that improved the most was India winning a few more games overseas, and that’s something that he and all of the Indian cricket have to be really proud of,” Ponting informed ICC.”The other thing is there was really was a real focus placed on Test cricket by the BCCI when Virat took over, and I think a lot of it has come from him as well – to focus more on Test cricket and winning more games home and away.”Given his Test file as captain, he can stroll away from the function very, very happy with what he has achieved.”KOHLI LOVED AND CHERISHED TEST CAPTAINCY: PONTINGMeanwhile, Ponting revealed that he had a chat with Virat Kohli in March-April 2021 and the India star had discussed with him about quitting white-ball captaincy.However, he added that he was “very, very stunned” when Kohli announced his decision to quit Test captaincy, revealing that Kohli had told him how much h loved the role of being India’s Test captain during their chat from 2021.However, the World Cup-winning former captain said he can understand why Kohli would have chosen to give up the reins of the Test team.”Yes, it did truly (shock me). Probably the principle motive why was I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat through the first a part of the IPL (2021) earlier than it bought postponed,” Ponting added.”He was speaking then about stepping away (from captaincy) from white-ball cricket and the way passionate he was to proceed on to be Test match captain. He simply cherished and cherished that job and that submit a lot. Obviously, the Indian Test staff had achieved quite a bit underneath his management. When I heard it, I used to be actually, actually stunned.”You only have to watch him on the field for an hour of the day’s play to realise how passionate he is about that job and the role, and how much he wants the team to win and how much he wants the best for Indian cricket.”I used to be shocked, however then I began eager about different issues, even my very own time as captain. I’ve gone on file and mentioned that I most likely suppose I performed a few years longer than I ought to have in hindsight. I believe I might need been captain for a few years longer than I ought to have.”So I think there is potentially a shelf-life for international cricket captains and even coaches. Virat’s been there for close to seven years now. If there’s a country in the world that’s the most difficult to captain, it’s probably India because of just how popular the game is and how much every single Indian loves to see the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, whether they are good or bad. You weigh all those things up.”