Former India cricketer and Head Coach of the men’s cricket team, Gautam Gambhir recently opened up on former Australia captain Ricky Ponting’s comments on Virat Kohli’s form. However, the remarks from the Indian head coach came prior to the departure of the team for the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar trophy 2024-25 after Ponting questioned Virat Kohli’s poor run of form.
Following India’s 0-3 drubbing against New Zealand in the recently concluded Test series at home, Virat Kohli was under the scanners after failing to make a mark with the bat. Seeing this, Gambhir while addressing the pre-departure press conference on Monday, November 11 stated, “What does Ponting have to do with India cricket? I think he should think about Australian cricket. More importantly, I have got no concerns whatsoever for Virat and Rohit.”
He is quite a prickly character: Ricky Ponting reacts to Gambhir’s comments
However, these remarks from the Team India Head Coach did not rest well with the Aussie great. However, Ponting added that he was surprised to see Gambhir’s reaction while calling him a “prickly character”. “I was surprised to read the reaction but knowing the coach, Gautam Gambhir, he is quite a prickly character. So I am not surprised to see it was him who said something back,” Ponting said while speaking to 7News.
If he comes my way: Ricky Ponting on whether he will shake hands with Gambhir
“In no way was it a dig at him. I followed it up by saying he has played well in Australia and he will be keen to bounce back over here. If you ask Virat, I am sure he would be a little concerned that he has not been able to make the same amount of hundreds as he has in previous years,” Ponting further adding, providing clarification on his previous comments. Ponting further admitted that he would shake Gambhir’s hand “if he came my way” during the Test series but said that he doesn’t expect that to happen.
It is to be noted that in the three-match Test series against New Zealand, Virat Kohli scored 93 runs whereas Rohit Sharma accumulated just 91 runs. The two will aim to get back to their prime form as Australia hosts India in a five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting from November 22 in Perth.