People in India try to find reason not to pick Kohli, he's my first pick: Ponting
India try to «find reasons» to not pick Virat Kohli in the national side and said the charismatic former skipper would be his «first pick» for the T20 World Cup in the Americas. Kohli's sublime form in the ongoing IPL has seen him leading the run-chart with 708 runs from 14 innings, though questions keep cropping up about his strike rate at the top of the order.
«He (Kohli) is the first pick for me for India. So, class and experience like that, you can't replace.
»It's funny with Virat. I think people in India just always try to find a reason not to pick him or a reason why he's maybe not as good as some of these other guys in the T20 game," the former Australian captain and Delhi Capitals head coach told ICC.
Ponting feels Kohli should open the innings with captain Rohit Sharma at next month's T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA, as Suryakumar Yadav and the likes are quite capable of prepping up the run rate later in the innings.
«They (selectors) have still got a decision to make (on the opening pair) because (Yashasvi) Jaiswal is in that squad and one thing they haven't got a lot in their team is left-hand batters.
»So they've got a decision to make with Jaiswal (batting position), but I'm pretty sure that they'll go with Kohli and Rohit Sharma (as openers)," added Ponting.
«He can play his role at the top. And if you've got the right guys around him scoring (like) Suryakumar (Yadav)… Rohit Sharma's going to have a high strike rate. These other guys can go in there and play their way.»
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