Ahead of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test, Ricky Ponting hailed the talismanic Virat Kohli, calling him an absolute superstar of the game who is deeply passionate about the way he plays, which in turn has earned him lots of respect in Australia. “Kohli is a star. He’s a superstar, has been a superstar of the game for so long. He’s passionate about the way that he plays. He’s passionate about his team. He wants to win and he plays with his heart on his sleeve.

“That’s what superstar players generate and create all around the world. And there’s lots of different degrees of that.

“You think about other players like when Steve Smith goes to the UK (United Kingdom) and gets booed when he walks onto the ground. I mean, that’s all part of, I guess, the theatre that comes with international sports,” said Ponting on the ICC Review Show.

Kohli averages just 22.72 in his six Test matches this year, way below than his average of 54.08 in Tests in Australia and his overall career average of 47.83. But having scored some of his landmark centuries in Australia and leading India here to a 2-1 series win in 2018/19 is expected to bring the best out of him in the upcoming five-match series, starting on November 22 at Perth Stadium.

Ponting remarked he is expecting Kohli to shoulder tons of batting duties for India on this all-important tour of Australia. “I had a look at what Ravi (Shastri) had to say about being the man that wanted to take all the bullets in Australia last time. And that’s what you expect from your leaders and your star players.

“When you travel abroad, and you know that the country’s against you, and you know the home media’s against you, you need to have your senior players stand up and be the protectors, if you like, of the younger players in that side.

“So I’ve got no doubt that’s the way Virat will approach this tour, Rohit Sharma will approach this tour, Bumrah will approach this tour. The senior guys really need to stand up and lead the way,” he concluded.

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