Dubai, Feb 25: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said he has not seen a “better player” than Virat Kohli in ODIs, and backed the Indian batting star to go past legendary Sachin Tendulkar as the highest run-getter in the 50-over format.
Kohli made an exceptional unbeaten 100, his 51st in ODIs, to guide India to a six-wicket win over Pakistan in a Champions Trophy match here on Sunday.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli. Now that he’s gone past me (in run-maker’s list) and only two (batters) ahead of him, I’m sure he would want to give himself the best chance to be remembered as the all-time leading run scorer in the game,” Ponting told ICC Review.
During the course of that hundred, Kohli went past the 14000-run mark in one-dayers, joining former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara and Tendulkar in a rare club.
Kohli (14085 runs) is still 4,341 runs behind Tendulkar (18426) and at 36, the champion batter has limited time in his hand to overhaul the latter’s mark.
But Ponting did not see it as an impossible task for Kohli.
“Obviously physical-wise, he’s probably as fit as he’s ever been and works exceptionally hard on that side of his game. It’s crazy when you think about it, isn’t it? Just how good Virat’s been over such a long period of time, yet he’s still 4,000 runs behind Sachin.
“It just goes to show how good Sachin was, but also his longevity in the game. But with someone like Virat, you never write him off. If the hunger’s still there, then I’m never going to write him off (to overtake Tendulkar),” he added.
Ponting said a match against Pakistan often brought the best in Kohli, and termed him as a big match player.
“Yeah, 2022 (T20 WC) and now, he stood up against the team that he would probably steel himself the most to play against. When Pakistan had batted first on a tricky wicket, it needed someone at the top of the order to play a match-winning innings like that.
“Once again, it was Kohli to get the job done. He’s been a champion player for a long, long time. And particularly in the white-ball formats, where he’s been an unbelievably good 50-over player,” said the Aussie.
Ponting said Kohli’s hundred was the difference between India and Pakistan on that night.
“You look at the two scorecards, it’s one, Virat making a 100, and lots of Pakistan starts without anyone going on and making a big score.
“I’ve said forever, in any format of the game, a 50 never wins you or your team anything. You have to get big scores. And so the individual big scores weren’t there, but the big partnerships weren’t there either,” Ponting noted.
The Tasmanian said senior batters Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan were not able to serve Pakistan in a desired manner.
“They haven’t been able to give their best back to their team. Those two guys had to stand up,” Ponting said.
“They had to make big runs, and they haven’t been able to do it in the first couple of games, and that might be the reason why Pakistan don’t make it through to the semi-finals.” (PTI)
