“All the talk has been about Virat Kohli”: Ricky Ponting terms Indian captain making headlines as ‘unfair’

All the talk has been about Virat Kohli: The former Australian captain was vocal about the Indian captain and Australia’s Test opening pair.

Having picked Joe Burns as David Warner’s opening partner for the first Test against India in Adelaide a few days ago, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has once expressed support for the 31-year old player from Queensland despite his poor recent form.

Laying emphasis on not making changes to the Playing XI with the team doing well, Ponting considers Australia’s Test opening conundrum as a “tough decision”.

“It’s one of the toughest decisions selectors have had to make for quite some time. I’d show some faith in the incumbent,” Ponting was quoted as saying by 7NEWS.

“My gut feel is that as good a player as Pucovski is, and he’s done everything he possibly can to get picked in the first Test team, I think they’ll go with Burns at the start of the summer and give him a couple of opportunities and see what happens from there. There is a lot to be said for not making changes when a team is going well,” Ponting said.

“All the talk has been about Virat Kohli,” says Ricky Ponting about Indian captain making headlines

Ponting, who is coming on the back of coaching Delhi Capitals to the finals of the recently concluded 13th season of the Indian Premier League, has eyes on uncapped Indian fast bowlers in Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj.

Having watched the pair thrive under Royal Challengers Bangalore and India captain Virat Kohli in IPL 2020, Ponting expects one of them to earn a Test cap in the forthcoming four-match Test series especially if senior pacer Ishant Sharma fails to regain full fitness.

“Something you don’t always talk about with India is young fast bowlers, and they’ve got a couple of guys in [Navdeep] Saini and [Mohammed] Siraj that can bowl seriously quick.

“They’re in the high 140s [kmp] and touching 150. If Ishant Sharma’s not fit for the first Test I think we’ll actually see one of those two play. The Aussie batters will have to be on their toes,” Ponting added.

The 45-year old didn’t sound too pleased with Kohli getting widespread attention in the Australian media to the extent that he has been making the headlines with little or no mention of the Australian team.

“I know all the talk already since the Indians arrived has been about one person, and that’s Virat Kohli. I think a lot of that’s a little bit unfair, it’s a little bit unfair to some of the players in his team, but I think it’s been a little bit unfair to some of the Australian boys as well.

“We’ve got some of the best players in the world in our team – look at Cummins and Hazlewood and Starc and Lyon and Warner and Smith, Labuschagne had one of the best summers you’ll ever see last year. There’s been a lot of talk about India, I think we need to focus a little bit more on our boys as well and give them the credit where it’s due,” Ponting mentioned.