Cricketing greats Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting have given their take on the future of India’s Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma following their dismal outing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The two senior players’ future in India’s Test side came under discussion when Shastri and Ponting appeared on The ICC Review.
Virat Kohli had a forgetful run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he could manage to score just 190 runs at an average of below 24.
Following his ton in the second inning of the first Test in Perth, the star batter scored 90 runs in his remaining eight innings.
Dissecting Virat Kohli’s performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ricky Ponting said that the star batter found it challenging to bat as he was trying hard to score runs.
“The challenge is, and I can see it with Virat now, you can see how much he wants it,” Ponting told The ICC Review. “He’s trying so hard that that actually makes batting harder. The harder you try sometimes with batting, the less success you’re to have.”
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Reflecting on his playing days, Ricky Ponting said that he scored runs freely when he did not give much thought about his previous dismissals and the slump in his form.
“When I was playing my best, I didn’t think about any of that. I just walked out and thought about scoring runs,” the former Australian captain said.
While he did not comment on the future of Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting emphasised the need for his presence in the Indian dressing room to guide young players.
Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri said that the decision about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s future was in their hands.
Shastri believes that their future in the longest format will depend on their hunger to keep playing Tests.
“They might have been lucky to get over a couple of series, but you saw how New Zealand exposed them before coming to Australia. So I would leave it on that,” Ravi Shastri stated.
“And plus, it’s the hunger and desire. When you’re in your 30s, one is 36, the other is 38. They would know how hungry they are,” he added.
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