“Someone like Virat would probably find it a bit harder” - Ricky Ponting comments on why Rohit Sharma is the best captain for India

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has added that Rohit Sharma is the best captain to lead the team as they look to clinch the 2023 ODI World Cup at home as well. Comparing the personalities of Rohit Sharma and former India captain Virat Kohli, the Australian legend said that the latter would have found it slightly harder to cope with the pressure of the big matches.

However, Team India have got off to a stunning start in the ODI World Cup, winning three out of three games so far. They started with a six-wicket win over Australia and followed it up with an eight-wicket triumph over Afghanistan as well. In their previous match, they beat the arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets.

Speaking to the ICC website, Ponting said, “He’s very laid back, Rohit. Very laid back with everything he does. You can even see that by the way that he plays. He’s a pretty laconic sort of batsman as well, and that’s the way he is both on and off the field. We can’t sit back and say that the pressure won’t get to them at some stage, or it won’t affect them, because it will, just with the enormity of the tournament. But he’ll take it and cope with it as well as probably anyone,”

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However, Ponting also added that Rohit Sharma is the right person to lead India in the World Cup as Virat Kohli can focus solely on scoring runs then. He added,

“Someone like Virat, who is a bit more heart-on-the-sleeve, and probably listens to the fans and plays up with the fans a little bit more, someone with his personality would probably find it a bit harder. But I think Rohit will be fine with it. He’s a terrific bloke and has been a great player for a long time, and he’s done a great job as leader of India.”

Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have done well with the bat in the 2023 ODI World Cup so far. While Rohit has scored a hundred and a fifty, Kohli has scored two crucial half-centuries.

“We’ll see how they hold up under extreme pressure” – Ponting on whether India can lift World Cup

However, many critics have named hosts India as favourites to lift the World Cup at home. Ponting also agrees that the Indian team are one of the strongest contenders. He, however, said that it will all come down to how they handle pressure as well.

“I said from the start that I think they’re going to be the team to beat. They’ve got a very talented team. They’ve got all bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin and their top-order, middle-order batting. They’re going to be extremely hard to beat. But we’ll see how they hold up under extreme pressure as well,” Ricky Ponting concluded.