Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Gautam Gambhir hits out at Ricky Ponting over Virat Kohli criticism

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has backed senior players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli amid their poor form and said that Ricky Ponting should only focus on Australian cricket.

In Short

• Virat and Rohit were in seen in poor form recently
• Ponting questioned Kohli's place in the team
• Gambhir backed his senior players for their hunger

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has backed senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after criticism from the former Australia captain Ricky Ponting. Notably, Ponting recently commented on Kohli's form saying that any other player wouldn't have survived in the team had he scored just two hundreds in five years.

Gambhir was also quizzed about the poor form of the senior players in the press conference before leaving for Australia for the five-match Test series. The India head coach said that Ponting has got nothing to do with Indian cricket and mentioned Kohli and Rohit's passion and hunger to do well for the team.

Gautam Gambhir Press Conference Highlights

"What does Ponting to has to do with Indian cricket? I think he should think about Australian cricket and more importantly have got no concerns whatsoever for Virat and Rohit. I think they are incredibly tough men. They've achieved a lot for Indian cricket and they will continue to achieve a lot in future as well. I think for me, the most important thing is that they still work really hard and they still passionate, they still want to achieve a lot more and that is something which is very important. The hunger in that dressing room is incredibly important for me. And for the entire group of people as well in that dressing in dressing rooms. And I feel there is a lot of hunger and especially after what has happened in the last series," Gambhir said in the press conference.

Kohli and Rohit's tumultuous 2024 in Tests

In the ongoing year, Kohli and Rohit have looked far from their best and the recent 0-3 series loss against New Zealand has attracted more scrutiny on their form. Rohit has scored just 588 runs from 11 matches in the ongoing year at an average of 29.40 with two centuries and as many fifties to his name. On the other hand, Kohli has scored 250 runs from six matches (12 innings) at an average of 22.72 with just one half century.

Their poor form is a grave concern ahead of the Australia series where India need to win by 4-1 to qualify for the World Test Championship Final (WTC) on their own. Hence, it’s imperative for the duo to find form in the all-important series if India are to progress to their third consecutive WTC final.