Ricky Ponting advises Virat Kohli to take a break from cricket: 'He's making it difficult to enjoy.'

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has advised Virat Kohli to consider taking a break from the game in order to rediscover his intensity and passion. Kohli's performance in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy was below par, as he could only manage 190 runs in five Tests at an average of 23.75. His difficulty in dealing with deliveries outside the off stump was evident, with him being dismissed caught behind eight times in nine innings (excluding one where he was not out). To bounce back stronger, Ponting believes that Kohli might benefit from some time off to recharge and come back rejuvenated.

Ponting said Kohli is trying to hard which is working against him. The former captain was seen expressing his frustration after nicking it t the slips in India's second innings of the last Test in Sydney.

"...The challenge is, and I can see it with Virat now, you can see how much he wants it. He's trying so hard that actually makes batting harder. The harder you try sometimes with batting, the less success you're going to have," Ponting told ICC.

The multiple-time World Cup winner gave his own example to advise Kohli to take it easy.

"I started thinking more about not getting out rather than scoring runs and that might sound strange but that's what it was. I was trying to be so perfect set the right example play exactly the way my team needed me all the time but when I was playing my best I didn't think about any of that.

"I just walked out and thought about scoring runs. I can just see a little bit of that with Virat now. Even the way that he's getting out you can see he doesn't want to be playing at those balls he's trying not to do it but he's there's some mental block there that's making him feel for that one outside the off stump," the legendary cricketer added.

A break can help Kohli: Ponting

Kohli had taken a 42-day break after the England tour in 2022, during which he said he hadn't even touched the bat for 30 days for the first time in his career. Ponting said Kohli is in need of a similar kind of a break as the pressure of expectations and constant failure is stopping him from playing freely.

"A break can only help the Indian legend," said Ponting. "He had a mental break (in the past) where he stepped away for a while and then came back and find the love for the game again. So right now it just seems like that real love of the game for him is not there because he's making it too hard to enjoy. So if he wants to continue playing Test match cricket, he might just need to have a little spell for a while, find the love for the game again."

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