New Delhi: Virat Kohli’s call to quit India’s Test captaincy took former Australian captain Ricky Ponting by surprise because of a conversation the duo had during the first half of IPL 2021. Kohli had spoken with Ponting on the possibility of relinquishing the white-ball captaincy.
“Yes it did actually (come as a surprise). The main reason why is that I had a good chat with Virat in the first half of the last IPL,” Ponting was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo during a conversation with Isa Guha on the new show ICC Review.
“He was talking then about stepping away from the white-ball stuff and about how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. You can see he just loved and cherished 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,” Ponting said.
Kohli quit after leading India in 68 Tests, in which he won 40 becoming the most successful record for any Indian captain.
“It’s probably more of a staggering achievement for India than it was for us,” said Ponting.
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