Ricky Ponting gets belt treatment from fellow Australian after Gautam Gambhir outburst on Virat Kohli

Former Australia allrounder Shane Lee has slammed Ricky Ponting for his recent comments on star India cricketer Virat Kohli. Lee feels that Ponting's comments will fire up Kohli for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Before Shane Lee, India head coach Gautam Gambhir had also slammed Ponting and asked him to focus on the Australian team rather than the Indian players. Gambhir responded to Ricky Ponting's comments through the press conference before the Indian team departed for Australia.

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Shane Lee slams Ricky Ponting for 'Virat Kohli' remarks

While speaking on Fox Cricket's podcast The Follow On, Shane Lee spoke about the comments made by Ricky Ponting on Virat Kohli's poor form in Tests. Lee claimed that Ponting's comments would fire up Kohli and called it a "bad move".

“That is a bad move, Ricky (Ponting). What are you doing? You are going to fire that guy up. He is a world-class player and he will fire up out here,” Lee said on the podcast.

Lee further predicted the series to be a spicy one after Ponting's comments and the recent ball-tampering issues in the unofficial Test series between Australia A and India A.

“I think it is going to be a fantastic series. I think there is going to be a bit of spice in this series, definitely with the ball-tampering issues in and around the India A team, and particularly now that Ricky Ponting has now come out and given it to Kohli,” he said.

Virat Kohli's numbers in Australia

Virat Kohli has a good record against Australia as they always bring the best out of him. Kohli has a fantastic record on Australian soil with 1352 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 54.08 with 6 hundreds and 4 fifties.

Kohli has a good amount of experience of playing in Australian conditions. He has been touring Australia for more than a decade now. Over the years, he has faced many battles with several Australian great bowlers like Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and many more.

Ricky Ponting's comments on Virat Kohli

A few days ago, Ricky Ponting reminded Virat Kohli of his Test form in which he has scored just two hundreds in the last five years. He even claimed that any other player with such a record in international cricket would have been dropped from the team.

“I saw a stat the other day about Virat (Kohli)— it said he’s only scored two Test hundreds in the last five years. That didn’t seem right to me, but if that is accurate, then that’s, I mean, that’s a concern,” Ponting had said.

“There probably wouldn’t be anyone else still playing international cricket as a top-order batsman who’s only scored two Test match hundreds in five years,” he added.

Virat Kohli recently had a poor home Test season in which he scored just one fifty-plus score across five Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand. He scored just 93 runs in 3 Tests against New Zealand at an average of just 15.50.