Virat Kohli began the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 with a second innings hundred (100*) at Perth, but he managed to amass only 90 runs in his other eight innings combined.
The age-old problem of fishing outside the off stump led to Kohli’s downfall throughout the tour, with Australian quicks Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc exposing his weakness.
Amid the scrutiny, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting suggested Virat Kohli take some time off the game to regain the intensity and passion.
According to Ponting, Kohli is trying too hard which is working against him. The Indian stalwart was seen expressing his frustration after nicking it to slips during India's second innings of the Sydney Test.
"...The challenge is, and I can see it with Virat now, you can see how much he wants it. He's trying so hard that actually makes batting harder. The harder you try sometimes with batting, the less success you're going to have," Ponting told ICC.
"I started thinking more about not getting out rather than scoring runs and that might sound strange but that's what it was. I was trying to be so perfect set the right example play exactly the way my team needed me all the time but when I was playing my best I didn't think about any of that.
"I just walked out and thought about scoring runs. I can just see a little bit of that with Virat now. Even the way that he's getting out you can see he doesn't want to be playing at those balls he's trying not to do it but he's there's some mental block there that's making him feel for that one outside the off stump," he added.
When Kohli was going through an extended lean patch in 2022, he had taken a 42-day break to rejuvenate himself. During that phase, he hadn't even touched the bat for 30 days.
Ponting feels Kohli is in need of a similar sort of a break as the pressure of expectations and constant failure is stopping him from playing freely.
"A break can only help the Indian legend. He had a mental break (in the past) where he stepped away for a while and then came back and find the love for the game again. So right now it just seems like that real love of the game for him is not there because he's making it too hard to enjoy. So if he wants to continue playing Test match cricket, he might just need to have a little spell for a while, find the love for the game again," the Australian great remarked.
