“Kohli, Bumrah & Rohit Sharma need to lead the way” – Ponting feels senior Indian players must step up

Ricky Ponting feels the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 won’t be easy for Indian players, especially the youngsters. The Indian cricket team isn’t coming into the 5-match Test series with confidence, having lost to New Zealand at home 0-3.

BGT won’t be easy for youngsters

The former Australian captain therefore believes that senior players must protect the younger players in the side from the opposition players, media, and perhaps even their own supporters who’ll go after them after their non-performance. 

“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,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.

Senior guys need to stand up: Ponting

Virat Kohli, who was Team India’s captain in the last two BGT series, will have to be one of those protectors Ponting feels. Kohli has had his fair share of troubles in Australia, which include fights with players, the Australian crowd, and their media. Ponting admires the way Kohli defended his teammates in the last few tours to Australia and hopes he continues to do the same this time around as well. 

But Kohli won’t be the only leader in the side. As captain and vice-captain, the major onus to instill confidence and back players falls on Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. For the India vs Australia 1st Test, Bumrah would have to take charge with Rohit unavailable due to personal reasons (the birth of his second child). 

“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,” Ponting added.

India’s squad for Australia Test series

Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed