Taking jibes at former Australia captain Ricky Ponting for questioning Virat Kohli’s place in the team despite a prolonged batting slump, that saw the batting machine notch only  two Test centuries in the past five years, India head coach Gautam Gambhir said the Australian legend should only be concerned about cricket in his country.

“What does Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? I think he should think about Australian cricket. More importantly, I have got no concerns whatsoever for Virat and Rohit,” Gambhir said in the press conference ahead of the team’s departure for a challenging five-Test tour to Australia.

The two-time World Cup-winning former Aussie skipper had recently said Kohli’s form is a concern, but also felt that the Indian legend has it in him to roar back to form and there is no better place than Australia to do so.

“I saw a stat the other day about Virat, it said he’s only scored two (three) Test hundreds in the last five years. That didn’t seem right to me, but if that is right, then that is, I mean, that’s a concern,” Ponting said.

“There wouldn’t be anyone else probably even playing international cricket as a top-order batsman that’s only scored two Test match hundreds in five years. I’ve said it before about Virat, you don’t ever question the greats of the game. There’s no doubt, he’s a great of the game. He loves playing against Australia. In fact, I know he loves playing against Australia. And as I said, his record (in Australia) is very good. If there’s a time for him to turn it around, it’d be this series,” he said. “So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Virat make runs in the first game,” Ponting was quoted as saying in the ICC Review.

Having annually averaged above 50 in Test cricket from 2016 to 2019, Kohli has since undergone a lean patch in the longest format, scoring 1838 runs from 34 Tests at an average of 31.68, comprising two centuries.

In 2024, the 36-year-old touched his career’s lowest Test average mark – 22.72 in six matches so far – since 2011, the year he made his Test debut. In the latest ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, Kohli slipped out of the top-20 list for the first time in 10 years.

Kohli has just one fifty this year – 70 against Bangladesh in the Kanpur Test – while his last Test century came in July 2023 against the West Indies.

Since 2020, among the 14 batters who play in top five positions and have featured in as many (34) or more Tests, Kohli’s Test average is only higher than Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto. Among the same group of batters, Kohli also has the fewest centuries as well – two, alongside Tom Latham.