Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was surprised by Virat Kohli when he decided to step down as the captain of the Indian Test team. While Ponting said that Virat Kohli should be proud of his achievements as Test captain, especially the way he prioritized the longest format.
“Yes, it did actually surprise me. Probably the main reason why is I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat during the first part of the IPL before it got postponed. He was talking then about stepping away from white-ball cricket and how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. He just loved and cherished that job and that post so much. Obviously, the Indian Test team had achieved a lot under his leadership. When I heard it, I was really, really surprised,” In an interview with ICC, legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said.
Ponting said that Virat was one of the most passionate players to play the test format. Although, Ponting added that he can understand Virat’s decision of stepping down as a Test captain.
“You only have to watch him on the field for an hour of the day’s play to realize 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 was shocked, but then I started thinking about other things, even my own time as captain. I have gone on record and said that I probably think I played a couple of years longer than I should have in hindsight. I think I might have been captain for a couple of years longer than I should have,” he added.
“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,” said Ponting.