I was really surprised when Kohli stepped down as Indian Test captain: Ricky Ponting

Indian cricket legend Virat Kohli stepped down as the captain of the Indian Test side after the three-match series against South Africa. The 33-year-old cricket icon’s decision to step down has been the talking point in the world of cricket.

And now, former Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting has opened up on Kohli’s decision to step down as the Test skipper. Ponting said that he was a little bit surprised by Kohli’s decision to step down as the skipper as he had chatted with the Indian cricketer after the first part of the IPL was postponed in the month of May.

“Yes, it did actually (surprise me). Probably the main reason why is I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat during the first part of the IPL (2021) before it got postponed,” said Ponting as quoted by the official website of the ICC.

India have achieved a lot under Kohli’s leadership: Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting also added that Kohli was speaking to him about his passion to continue as the captain of the Indian Test side. Ponting also lauded Kohli for his leadership and said that India has achieved a lot of success with Kohli at the helm of affairs.

“He was talking then about stepping away (from captaincy) from white-ball cricket and how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. He just loved and cherished that job and that post so much. Obviously, the Indian Test team had achieved a lot under his leadership. When I heard it, I was really, really surprised,” added Ponting.

Ponting also admitted that he was shocked when Kohli stepped down as the Test skipper. Ponting concluded by stating that he played a couple of years longer than he should have for Australia.

“I was shocked, but then I started thinking about other things, even my own time as captain. I have gone on record and said that I probably think I played a couple of years longer than I should have in hindsight. I think I might have been captain for a couple of years longer than I should have,” concluded Ricky Ponting.