Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has slammed Virat Kohli’s critics. Kohli recently came under scrutiny for his strike rate after he scored 51 runs off 43 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, since then, Kohli has lifted his game and has given back to his naysayers in style.

Kohli is currently the leading run-getter in the ongoing IPL 2024 with 708 runs in 14 matches at an average of 64.36 and a strike rate of 155.60. Thus, Kohli played a key role in taking RCB to the last four.

“It’s funny with Virat. I think people in India just always try to find a reason not to pick him or a reason why he’s maybe not as good as some of those other guys in the T20 game. He (Kohli) is the first pick for me for India,” Ponting told the ICC.

“He can play his role at the top. And if you’ve got the right guys around him scoring (like) Suryakumar (Yadav) and Rohit Sharma’s going to have a high strike rate. These other guys can go in there and play their way,” Ponting added.

Ponting acknowledged the anchor role in T20Is is slowly going into oblivion as the team, which tries to score at a high strike rate has a higher chance of succeeding.

“The mantra, I think, for the teams three or four years ago, was making sure that someone at the top of the order made 80 or 100, even if it took them 60 balls, it didn’t really matter.

“I think it’s sort of shifting now to be more of a strike rate based game where you can have a massive impact on a game with a 40 off 15 balls rather than getting an 80 off 55 balls sort of thing,” Ponting added.

Virat Kohli has done a fine job for RCB in the ongoing IPL 2024 and he will look to continue the good show in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. 

India will begin their T20 World Cup against Ireland on June 5.