Virat Kohli maintains position in Test team despite criticism from Ponting: 'No one else deserves to be playing...'

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has expressed his concern about the recent form of Virat Kohli, noting the underwhelming returns of the right-handed batter. Ponting believes that Kohli has the potential to turn things around and perform well in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli has only managed to score two Test centuries in the last four years, both of which came in 2023.

In 2024, Kohli has been far from his best, and in the recently-concluded Test series against New Zealand, Kohli just averaged a little above 15. The 36-year-old was not even able to score 100 runs in the three-match series against the Kiwis, which India eventually lost 0-3.

“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," Ponting said on the latest episode of ICC Review.

"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 added.

Kohli, who averaged more than 50 in Tests from 2016 to 2019, has been undergoing a lean patch, scoring just 1,838 runs from 34 Tests at an average of 31.68.

In 2024, Virat Kohli is averaging just 22.72 in the six matches he has played so and this is the lowest he has averaged in Tests since making his debut in the longest format in 2011. The right-handed batter has also slipped out of the top 20 list when it comes to ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings, for the first time in 10 years.

Despite Kohli's poor form off late, Ponting is backing the former India captain to come good in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, set to begin in Perth on November 22.

“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 Ponting.

Ponting also gave his take on India's recent Test series loss against New Zealand, and he pointed out a glaring issue with Team India -- batters' struggle against spin.

“I think the one thing it does probably say is it’s really starting to highlight India's vulnerability against good quality spin bowling,” said Ponting.

“It seems as though the skill of the modern Indian batsmen of playing spin is probably not what it used to be," he added.

Speaking further, Ponting said, "Maybe because they're playing on different wickets in India that are probably for the fast bowlers a bit more, maybe because there's more high-quality fast bowlers in India now that they're not playing as much spin bowling as they did."

"Maybe it's the IPL or how much IPL cricket they're playing that the younger players are learning the game that way rather than the way that players did 15 or 20 years ago," he added.