BGT proved to be a nightmare for batsmen, Kohli will return to form: Ponting

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes that the Border Gavaskar Trophy has turned out to be a nightmare for batsmen and he will not judge Virat Kohli’s form based on his performances in it. Kohli, who has not scored a half-century in his last 14 innings, has scored only 111 runs in three Tests against Australia, but Ponting is not worried about it. He said in the ICC review, “I am not looking at the form of any batsman in this series because for the batsmen this series has been like a nightmare.”

He said, “As far as Virat is concerned, I have been saying time and again that champion players always find a way. It must be looking like he is in bad form at the moment and is not scoring runs because we all expect him to score runs. He is realistic as well. The batsman himself knows when his form is bad and he is not scoring runs. No one else needed to tell him. I am not worried about Kohli as I know he will return to form.

Ponting, who has played in England several times for Ashes series, knows that the conditions there in June will be very different from those in the subcontinent. Ponting, who holds the third spot among batsmen with most international centuries, said India should consider a change in their batting order if they are to qualify for the World Test Championship final in June. He said, “A player like KL Rahul is out of the team and Shubman Gill is playing. Both have experience of playing Test and both of them can be fielded in the same team.

Gill was preferred over Rahul in the third Test who could manage only 38 runs in three innings of the first two Tests. Rahul, however, has scored two centuries in England and Ponting believes that both he and Gill can be fielded at the Oval. He said, “Shubman can open the innings and Rahul can play in the middle order. He has played cricket in England before. It is only one Test so team selection will be very important.