T20 World Cup 2024: Virat Kohli's critics silenced by Ricky Ponting with an astounding jibe

Australia’s three-time World Cup winner and legendary batter, Ricky Ponting, backed in-form Virat Kohli to yet again steal the limelight with his magical batting for India in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Kohli is currently in red-hot form with the bat for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the ongoing IPL 2024. The dashing right-hander has already amassed 700+ runs as an opener and played a huge role in taking the RCB to the IPL 2024 Playoffs from the brink of elimination.

The former India and RCB skipper is currently the leading run scorer in the ongoing IPL 2024, and he would love to continue his awesome form in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, which would be perhaps his last chance to win the most coveted title in the format. This mega event will kick off on June 1 in the USA and Caribbean.

Virat Kohli has a great record in T20 World Cup

India’s batting superstar has a great record in the T20 World Cups, as he is the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 1141 runs in five editions. He was the highest run-getter in the 2014 T20 World Cup with 319 runs in six matches—the highest by any batter in a single edition of the men’s ICC event.

Meanwhile, the former Australia captain backed Kohli's selection in India’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, where the Men in Blue will kick off their campaign against Ireland on June 5 in New York. Ponting highlighted that Kohli is often subjected to unnecessary scrutiny and doubts about his capabilities in the T20 format, and he stressed that he would always be his first pick for Team India.

The Aussie legend emphasized Kohli's ability to play a crucial role at the top of the batting order for the Indian cricket team at the global event. He mentioned that Indian stars like Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma can maintain high strike rates, which will enable Kohli to effectively anchor the innings for India at the T20 World Cup in 2024.

Ricky Ponting backs Virat Kohli to deliver in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024

He said that Kohli adds value and versatility to India's T20 setup. The Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach also insisted that there is no other player like Kohli who can play like him, saying he has that clash and experience that nobody can replace him.

Ricky Ponting was quoted as saying by ICC Review: “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 these other guys in the T20 game. He (Kohli) is the first pick for me for India.

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

Ponting added, “I remember having this chat and some other chats I did for the ICC about there's some talk about Virat not being in their team only last year, but what happened when the big games come around, he was one of the guys who got the job done. So, class and experience like that, you can't replace.”