The Australian legend Ricky Ponting has opened up on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma‘s retirements and also praised India’s youngsters to take their place ahead of the England tests.

India is set to prepare for the five-match test series in England, commencing on June 24 at the Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

The team will be missing the services of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have both announced their test retirements, with Shubman Gill aiming to lead the team into a new chapter.

Ponting acknowledged the difficulty of replacing the seasoned Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the Test arena but expressed confidence in India’s ability to do so, given their abundance of talented players.

“It’s always very difficult to replace players like that who have been around for so long and have played so much Test cricket. But if any country can do it quickly, it’s India because of the young talent they have,” said Ricky Ponting.

“I’ve seen it firsthand over the last 10 years in the IPL, and we’ve witnessed the emergence of players like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal who have transitioned to international cricket with India and performed well almost immediately.

“While replacing the skill is one aspect, which I believe India can do relatively easily, the experience is the key element that will be missing. Even with a young captain like Shubman Gill, they will still have some experienced players like KL Rahul and Bumrah around.

“In a rebuilding phase, I think India can handle it better than most other teams,” Ponting added.

“Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are seasoned players who have secured many victories for us. It is always challenging to replace such talent, but our team has a good blend of youth and experience,” Gill stated at the pre-departure press conference.

“This situation does not add extra pressure because our team is always ready to handle stress and knows how to win in such circumstances,” Gill added.

The first match of the test series will be played between June 20 and 24 at Headingley.