Virat Kohli not complete, all-round package yet, says Ricky Ponting

Virat Kohli not complete, all-round package yet, says Ricky Ponting

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Ricky Ponting has claimed that Indian captain Virat Kohli is not an all-round player yet and should not be compared to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, and Jacques Kallis. Ponting added that Tendulkar's consistency and longevity in the game sets him aside from every other cricketer.

Virat Kohli has been the most dominant batsman in the world over the last couple of years and recently became the only current player to have an average above 50 in all formats of the game. Ricky Ponting, although he has attested to the fact that the Indian captain is the best player in the world right now, believes that it is too early to compare him to the greats of the game.

"Is he the best batsman in the world? Yeah, he probably is. I thought he was six or seven months ago and he's probably taken it to another level since then," Ponting told GulfNews in an interview.

"He's not the complete, all-round package yet. It's too early yet to be taking about him being one of the greats. I think the great players we always talk about, the Tendulkars, the Laras, the Kallises, those guys played 120, 130-200 Test matches. Virat's not even halfway along that path." 

When asked what set Tendulkar apart from all the other batsmen of his era, Ponting said that it was his ability to maintain consistency over a period of 200 Test matches.

"The great thing about Sachin was his longevity in the game. To think about someone playing 200 Test matches is quite remarkable and still maintain the standards over such a long period of time," he concluded.

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