Virat Kohli Is The Best Batsman In ODIs For Ricky Ponting But The Aussie Feels He Has Some Way To Go In Tests
Kohli is closing in on 8000 ODI runs and could be the fastest to the milestone.
Ricky Ponting believes Team India captain Virat Kohli is the best ODI batsman in the world but it is not yet time to call him a great at Test level.
"Is he the best batsman in the world? Yeah, he probably is. I thought he was six or seven months ago and he's probably taken it to another level since then," Ponting was quoted as saying by the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
BCCL
Kohli had an outstanding 2016 across formats as the Test captain guided India to comprehensives wins against the West Indies, New Zealand and England before taking over the captaincy of limited overs as well. Ponting said captaincy in all formats would help Kohli even further.
"Is it too premature to call him the best ever? You can probably say that right now as far as his one-day cricket is concerned. His one-day record is outstanding and probably better than anybody that's ever played the game given how many hundreds (27) he's made but let's give him a few years yet in the Test series side of things.
"It's too early yet to be taking about him being one of the greats. I think the great players we always talk about - the Tendulkars, the Laras, the Kallises - those guys played 120, 130-200 Test matches. Virat's not even halfway along that path," he said.
Also Read: Australian Coach Darren Lehmann Admits That Australia Don't Know Yet How To Counter Virat Kohli
BCCL
Talking about the upcoming Australia tour of India, Ponting said the visitors will need to get Kohli out of his comfort zone to have any chances of doing well in the four-Test series.
Batting legend Ricky Ponting feels India skipper Virat Kohli is the best one-day batsman in the world but it is not yet time to call him a great of the five-day format.
"Is he the best batsman in the world? Yeah, he probably is. I thought he was six or seven months ago and he's probably taken it to another level since then," Ponting was quoted as saying by the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
BCCL
Kohli had an outstanding 2016 across formats as the Test captain guided India to comprehensives wins against the West Indies, New Zealand and England before taking over the captaincy of limited overs as well.
Ponting said captaincy in all formats would help Kohli even further.
"Is it too premature to call him the best ever? You can probably say that right now as far as his one-day cricket is concerned. His one-day record is outstanding and probably better than anybody that's ever played the game given how many hundreds (27) he's made but let's give him a few years yet in the Test series side of things.
Also Read: Virat Kohli Is The Only Indian In Top-3 Batting Rankings In All Formats Of Cricket
BCCL
"It's too early yet to be taking about him being one of the greats. I think the great players we always talk about - the Tendulkars, the Laras, the Kallises - those guys played 120, 130-200 Test matches. Virat's not even halfway along that path," he said.
Talking about the upcoming Australia tour of India, Ponting said the visitors will need to get Kohli out of his comfort zone to have any chances of doing well in the four-Test series.
"One thing I learnt about playing in India is the momentum that the home team can create, you have to try and stop that.
"Someone like Virat, you have to take his boundary-scoring areas away and make him score his runs in different areas or make him bat for a longer time to make his runs," he added.
