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The Sunday blockbuster ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash saw Virat Kohli rise up to the occassion and scored his 51st ODI century. Once again, he roared back to form against Pakistan in an ICC event. The unbeaten 100 impressed the former Australia captain Ricky Ponting but it did not surprise him.
“I've always said big games equal big names. You need your big names to stand up in those big moments, and no bigger game for India than a game against Pakistan,” Ponting said on the ICC review.
“Your reputation is forged in what you do in the biggest contests on the international stage. So it's no surprise to me that that has happened,” he added.
Ponting drew parallels with Kohli's stellar unbeaten 82 against Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2022 and his maiden Champions Trophy century.
“Yeah, as you say, 2022 and now, he stood up against the team that he would probably steel himself the most to play against," Ponting said.
“And no bigger moment than last night when Pakistan had batted first on a tricky wicket. It needed someone at the top of the order to play a match-winning innings like that. And once again, it was Kohli to get the job done.”
The difference between India and Pakistan in Dubai
Ponting explained the importance of big scores in ODIs and said that it was the one thing lacking in the Pakistan side.
“You look at the two scorecards, it’s one, Virat making a 100, and lots of Pakistan starts without anyone going on and making a big score," Ponting noted.
“I've said forever, in any format of the game, a 50 or a half-century never wins you or your team anything. You have to get big scores. And so the individual big scores weren't there, but the big partnerships weren't there either.”
Hungry Kohli to go past Tendulkar?
During his knock in Dubai, Kohli became the quickest to 14,000 ODI runs. He is only behind India's Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 runs) and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 runs) on the list. Ponting believes Kohli would like to become the highest run-scorer in the format considering how hard he works on his fitness. He named him the best ODI player in the history of the game.
“He's obviously been a champion player for a long, long time. And particularly in the white-ball formats, where he's been an unbelievably good 50-over player,” Ponting said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli. Now that he's gone past me and only two ahead of him, I'm sure he would want to give himself the best chance to be remembered as the all-time leading run scorer in the game.
“As long as the hunger's there, obviously physical-wise, he’s probably as fit as he's ever been and works exceptionally hard on that side of his game.”
Never write off Kohli
Last year, Ponting had criticised Kohli for not living up to the expectations in Test format. However, in ODIs, he sees the hunger the 36-year-old has and vows to never write him off.
“It’s crazy when you think about it, isn’t it? Just how good Virat’s been over such a long period of time, yet he’s still 4,000 runs behind Sachin. It just goes to show how good Sachin was, but also his longevity in the game," the 50-year-old said.
“But with someone like Virat, you never write him off. If the hunger's still there, then I’m never going to write him off.”
Meanwhile, India have already qualified for the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinals. Before the semifinal, India will face New Zealand on March 2.
