Ricky Ponting feels Virat Kohli will be the key for India in Champions Trophy

After all the brouhaha surrounding the India’s participation in the upcoming edition of the IPL, the team is all set for the title defense in England. Skipper Virat Kohli will surely have his task cut out before the team leaves for the warm-up fixtures. His current form with the bat has not been very supreme. Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes that this could turn up to be a worrying concern for the Indian team.

In a recent conversation with the cricket.com.au, Ricky Ponting spoke at length about India’s chances in the tournament and the challenge for skipper Kohli. He noted that the conditions in England will not be very fruitful. Hence, for someone like Kohli who has not been in sublime touch in the last couple of months, things will be tough going into the tournament.

“The white ball will do a little bit for the first few overs, but that’s generally all you see in those conditions. It’s certainly not (the same as) what Broad and Anderson can do with the red ball in those conditions. It’s just a good challenge for him of where he’s at in his career. He’s in a little bit of a flat spot but everyone goes through that, and he’s well and truly good enough to find his way through the other side,” quoted Ricky Ponting.

Poor IPL form

He further cited that Kohli’s IPL team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, has had a very disappointing season this year. Hence, the Indian skipper will have to leave the failure of IPL behind before heading into the Champions Trophy. Ponting believes the team will definitely need Kohli to come good if they wish to defend their title successfully in the English conditions.

“It’ll be interesting to see, with his team struggling in the IPL, what that brings out of him for the last part of this ( IPL) tournament and if he can carry anything over from this into the Champions Trophy. Because ( India) are going to need him to. They’re a very good one-day outfit, but they’re going to need their best players playing well if they’re going to win the Champions Trophy,” conceded Ponting.

India will play their first match of the season against Pakistan on June 4.