“No surprise to me that that happened” - Legendary captain’s huge statement on Virat Kohli after century in IND vs PAK 2025 Champions Trophy match

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has opined that Virat Kohli scoring a century against Pakistan in a high-pressure Champions Trophy 2025 clash was not surprising, given his reputation. The ace batter scored an unbeaten 100 in yet another successful run chase, as India won by six wickets at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, February 23.

Though Kohli's form was a concern, particularly after his patchy 22-run knock against Bangladesh in the first match, his big-match ability was not overlooked by anyone. He lived up to his reputation, playing a well-composed innings and plotting out the run chase to perfection to hunt down the 242-run target.

This marked Kohli's 51st ODI hundred and a much-welcome innings amid questions surrounding his future.

Ponting remarked that it was only natural for a big name like Kohli to step up in a big match against Pakistan in an ICC event.

“I've always said big games equal big names. You need your big names to stand up in those big moments, and no bigger game for India than a game against Pakistan. Your reputation is forged in what you do in the biggest contests on the international stage. So it's no surprise to me that that has happened," Ponting said on ICC Review (via ICC's official website).

“And no bigger moment than last night when Pakistan had batted first on a tricky wicket. It needed someone at the top of the order to play a match-winning innings like that. And once again, it was Kohli to get the job done," he added.

Kohli was adjudged Player of the Match for his innings. India recorded their second consecutive win in the Champions Trophy group game and advanced to the semi-finals.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli" - Ricky Ponting

Apart from extending his own record for most centuries in ODI cricket, Kohli also notched several other records during his match-winning ton against Pakistan. He became the third player (after Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara) to reach the 14,000-run landmark in ODIs after having gone past Ricky Ponting's tally of 13,704 recently.

In the same interview, the legendary Australian player said Kohli would like to end his career as the leading run-scorer in the 50-over format.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better 50-over player than Virat Kohli. Now that he's gone past me and only two ahead of him, I'm sure he would want to give himself the best chance to be remembered as the all-time leading run scorer in the game," Ponting said.

“As long as the hunger's there, obviously physical-wise, he’s probably as fit as he's ever been and works exceptionally hard on that side of his game," he concluded.

Kohli is still 4341 runs behind Sachin Tendulkar's imperious record tally of 18,426. The former ace batter took 350 innings to reach 14000 runs, while Kohli became the fastest (287 innings), beating the record by 63 innings.