'Kohli won't stay down for too long'

Virat Kohli has been battling one of his worst phases in a hugely successful career, having failed to score a hundred in any format for more than three years now.

'Being the absolute professional that he is, he'll work it out and work it out pretty quickly,' believes Australian batting legend Ricky Ponting.

'It is going to happen to everyone at some stage. Virat's probably had a 10 or 12-year run where hasn't had many down times,' Ponting -- who scored 13,378 Test runs -- told ICC Review.

"There was a lot of talk and conjecture around the IPL about how tired and burnt out he might be. That's for him to work out and assess and find ways to improve, whether it's a technical thing or a mental thing,' Punter, who played 168 Tests and 375 ODIs, added.

Ponting explained that many a time, cricketers want to convince themselves that they are not tired, either physically or mentally, and added that Kohli might be going through the same stage at the moment.

'One thing I do know from experience is that quite often you bluff yourself as a player that you are not actually tired, that you are not physically or mentally tired. You always find a way to get yourself up for training, you always find a way to get yourself up for the game,' explained Ponting who played international cricket for 17 years, from 1995 to 2012.

'It's not until you actually stop and have a couple of days do you realise how tired and fatigued you are,' Punter, who holds the record for the second most number of Test hundreds (41) after Sachin Tendulkar (45), said.

'So that might be exactly where Virat Kohli is at now, but I'm pretty sure he won't stay down for too long.'

Kohli has been rested for the five-match T20I series against South Africa, but will return to action next month when India takes on England in a one-off Test in Edgbaston.