File image of Virat Kohli.© AFP
Former Australian captain Ponting has no shame in admitting that he carried on playing at the highest level longer than he should have. Back in 2022, Kohli had taken a month off from the game and that worked well for him. Ponting feels time has come for Kohli to get away from the game following his constant troubles outside the off-stump over the course of the five Test series Down Under. “…The challenge is, and I can see it with Virat now, you can see how much he wants it. He’s trying so hard that actually makes batting harder. The harder you try sometimes with batting, the less success you’re going to have,” said the multiple World Cup winner.
“I started thinking more about not getting out rather than scoring runs and that might sound strange but that’s what it was. I was trying to be so perfect set the right example play exactly the way my team needed me all the time but when I was playing my best I didn’t think about any of that.
“I just walked out and thought about scoring runs. I can just see a little bit of that with Virat now. Even the way that he’s getting out you can see he doesn’t want to be playing at those balls he’s trying not to do it but he’s there’s some mental block there that’s making him feel for that one outside the off stump.” A break can only help the Indian legend, said Ponting.
“He had a mental break (in the past) where he stepped away for a while and then came back and find the love for the game again. So right now it just seems like that real love of the game for him is not there because he’s making it too hard to enjoy.
“So if he wants to continue playing Test match cricket, he might just need to have a little spell for a while, find the love for the game again.”
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