Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has described Virat Kohli as the best ODI player he has ever witnessed, supporting the Indian cricket icon to overtake the great Sachin Tendulkar as the highest run-scorer in the 50-over game. Kohli's unbeaten 100, his 51st ODI century, led India to a six-wicket win over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy match in Dubai on Sunday.
"I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a better player in the 50-over format than Virat Kohli," Ponting shared on ICC Review. "Now that he’s moved ahead of me in the run-scoring charts and has only two more players ahead, I’m sure he would want to give himself the best shot at being remembered as the highest run-scorer of all time.”
Kohli's century also marked him reaching the 14,000-run mark in ODIs, a feat achieved by just two cricketing legends before him—former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and Tendulkar. With 14,085 runs to his credit, Kohli is still 4,341 runs behind Tendulkar's record of 18,426 runs. Considering that Kohli is now 36, the time left to break this record is short, but Ponting feels it isn't an impossible task.
"Physically, he is as fit as can be and works very hard on keeping that up. It's amazing, isn't it? Just how much he has dominated for so long, and yet he's still 4,000 runs behind Sachin. It says as much about Sachin's brilliance as it does about his extraordinary longevity in the game. As for Virat, though, you can never count him out. While the hunger exists, I wouldn't place a bet against him coming past Tendulkar," Ponting explained.
The ex-Australian captain also pointed out how matches against Pakistan always seem to bring the best out of Kohli, terming him a big-match player. "In 2022, in the T20 World Cup, and now again, he has performed when it mattered most against the side he is most keen to play against," Ponting said. "With Pakistan batting first on a tricky pitch, India needed someone at the top to play a match-defining innings, and once again, it was Kohli who stepped up. He has been a champion for a long time, especially in the white-ball formats, where his record in ODIs is simply outstanding.”
Ponting further highlighted that Kohli’s hundred was the decisive factor in India's victory over Pakistan. If you compare the two scorecards, the contrast is evident—Virat scored a century, whereas Pakistan had several players who got starts but could not convert them into big scores. I have always maintained that in any format, a fifty by itself does not win matches. You require big scores, and Pakistan did not have big individual scores or important partnerships," he noted.
The Tasmanian also lambasted Pakistan's veteran batters, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, for not rising to the challenge when their side needed them most. "They haven't delivered the performances that their team was looking for. These two were supposed to steady the innings, but they have not made big runs in the early games, which may end up costing Pakistan a semi-finals spot," Ponting summed up.
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