Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting has showered rich praise on Virat Kohli for his extraordinary dominance in One Day International (ODI) cricket after his 51st century in the format helped India to beat Pakistan by six wickets in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match in Dubai.
Ricky Ponting has labeled Virat Kohli as one of the finest ODI players the game has ever seen while acknowledging the Indian superstar’s consistency and longevity in the 50-over format. With Kohli surpassing Ponting’s own ODI run tally of 13,704 during a sensational century against Pakistan in Dubai, the Indian batting icon has now set his sights on the all-time record.
Ricky Ponting declares Virat Kohli the world’s best ODI batter
With 14,085 runs, Kohli now trails only Kumar Sangakkara (14,234) and Sachin Tendulkar (18,426), while Ponting is fourth with 13,704 runs in the all-time ODI run charts. After his Dubai heroics, the former Australian skipper believes that the former Indian skipper has what it takes to go all the way and finish as the all-time leading run-scorer in ODI history.
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Ricky Ponting said in The ICC Review, “He’s (Virat Kohli) 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. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli. Now that he’s gone past me and with 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.”
Ricky Ponting backs Virat Kohli to break Sachin Tendulkar’s world record in ODI cricket
Ponting believes that Kohli still has a chance to break Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI record that was once considered untouchable. The Australian legend feels if Kohli maintains his peak fitness and still has the hunger for runs, then he can definitely break Tendulkar’s world record in the format.
However, Kohli still needs over 4,000 runs to overtake Tendulkar and become the world’s highest ODI run scorer, but Ponting believes that the dashing right-hander still has a chance. He noted, “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.”
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I’m never going to write him off: Ricky Ponting
Ponting signed off by saying, “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. 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.”
Notably, Kohli will have an opportunity to boost his ODI run tally in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 when India take on New Zealand in the final group match on March 2 in Dubai. Both India and New Zealand have qualified for the semifinals from Group A.