'Perplexed about star batter's treatment in India': Former Australia great slams Virat Kohli's critics

Former Australia great Ricky Ponting has slammed the critics who feels Virat Kohli should not be picked in India’s T20 squad. 

According to the former Australia captain, Kohli should be the 'first pick' in India’s playing XI in the T20 team because of his class and experience.

"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," said Ponting during a recent interaction.

"The 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's batting position, but I’m pretty sure that they’ll go with Kohli and Rohit Sharma as openers," The Delhi Capitals head coach further said.

"I am perplexed the way Kohli gets treatment in India. 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," he added.