Indian batting legend Virat Kohli struck a match-winning unbeaten century to power India to a six-wicket win over rivals Pakistan in their champions trophy match on Sunday in Dubai. Kohli’s high-class knock was rife with unmatchable strokes and incredibly elegant batting style as he brought up his 51st ODI ton in style. 

During the innings, Kohli also became the fastest batter to complete 14,000 runs in ODIs. Speaking on Kohli’s splendid knock, former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting lauded Kohli’s effort in times of need. 

“He's obviously been a champion player for a long, long time. And particularly in the white-ball formats, where he's been an unbelievably good 50-over player,” Ponting said on the ICC Review. 

“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."

Kohli is still 4,341 runs behind Tendulkar’s 18,426-run record and when Ponting was asked about Kohli surpassing Tendulkar, he did not rule out the possibility. 

“Obviously physical-wise, he’s probably as fit as he's ever been and works exceptionally hard on that side of his game. It’s crazy when you think about it, isn’t it? Just how good Virat’s been over such a long period of time, yet he’s still 4,000 runs behind Sachin. It just goes to show how good Sachin was, but also his longevity in the game," Ponting said.

“But with someone like Virat, you never write him off. If the hunger's still there, then I’m never going to write him off.”

Ponting also drew comparisons between Kohli’s knock against Pakistan in Melbourne at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, where he led the side to an unimaginable win. 

“Yeah, 2022 and now, he stood up against the team that he would probably steel himself the most to play against," Ponting said.

“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.”