T20 World Cup 2022: "I've been on the record for the past few months talking about how important it was for India to stick with Virat Kohli" - Ricky Ponting 

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting spoke about the importance of Team India backing Virat Kohli during his rough patch earlier this year. The ace batter struggled immensely in the first half of 2022, failing to garner runs across formats.

The woeful run of form, which saw a poor home season, a dreadful Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 campaign, and a tour of England as well, led Kohli to take a month-long break from the sport.

After being rested from Team India's tour of the Caribbean and Zimbabwe, the former India skipper made his return during the 2022 Asia Cup and has not looked back since.

Claiming that he has always been an advocate for Kohli and his importance to the Indian side even in the toughest of times, Ponting told journalist Vimal Kumar:

"I've been on the record for the past few months talking about how important it was for India to stick with Virat Kohli coming into a big tournament like this."

Several questioned Kohli's place in the side on account of his prolonged poor form. The pressure was mounting on the Delhi-born batter, with the replacement players performing well in his absence.

However, a solid Asia Cup campaign and a brief home season put all the qualms to rest and the former Indian skipper is following up with an exceptional T20 World Cup campaign in Australia.

Noting that Team India are yet to hit their peak in the ongoing T20 World Cup, Ponting said

"Quite often, you know, a little moment like that can have a really big impact on a team right way throughout the tournament. India probably have not been quite at their best yet, Virat has been really good in a couple of games, I think if India are to go on and progress and actually win, they need Virat there and they need him playing well."

Kohli has played a vital hand in all of India's three wins at the T20 World Cup 2022 so far. He has already tallied 220 runs as the Men in Blue are eyeing a semi-final berth.

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"More often than not, they are taking their chances which when Virat was not in the side" - Ricky Ponting

Out of the 35 T20Is India have played in 2022, Kohli has featured in only 18 of those. Owing to workload management and player rotation, the Men in Blue were able to try out several players at the No. 3 position in the absence of the former skipper.

Shreyas Iyer, who slotted in at the position during the home series against Sri Lanka, scored three consecutive fifties to claim the Player of the Series award.

Similarly, Deepak Hooda and several other players made their chances count, which according to Ponting, made things a little trickier for the management and the selectors. Ponting said:

"The one issue India had was that all the cricket they have been playing and rotating players in and there, you're giving highly talented young Indian players an opportunity to play in the national team."

Ponting added:

More often than not, they are taking their chances which when Virat was not in the side and the other guys coming in and making runs, that made it harder for India to keep sticking with him and picking him."

Team India are heading towards a new direction with their revamped blueprint in the T20I format post the ongoing World Cup. Senior players like Ravichandran Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik are not expected to be in the scheme of things anymore as they have been omitted from the squad for the upcoming tour of New Zealand.

Was Virat Kohli's place in the squad ever under any significant threat during his poor run of form? Let us know what you think.

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