Former Australia captain and Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has said that the tears in Virat Kohli’s eyes towards the end of the IPL 2025 final show what winning the T20 league means to every player, adding that it is not easy to win the tournament, even though certain franchises have won it multiple times. An emotional Kohli dropping to his knees in tears showed how much he yearned for the Indian Premier League title over the last 18 years and how much winning the tournament means to cricketers. Kohli got emotional towards the end of the final in Ahmedabad, in which Bengaluru beat Punjab by just six runs to lift their first-ever trophy since the tournament’s inaugural edition 17 years back. “You can see in his eyes in that last over, he was shedding a tear, that’s what it means to players, that’s what it means to everyone. Chennai (Super Kings) have won it a few times, Mumbai (Indians) have won it a few times, but it’s not an easy tournament to win; it is as simple as that, and you have to think long and hard about that. It’s not easy to win this thing,” Ponting said at the post-match press conference. Citing his example, Ponting said that he could relate to what Kohli meant when he said that winning the Indian Premier League was still five levels below playing Tests. Kohli made an emotional appeal to the young players, asking them to treat Tests with respect. “You know, this moment is right up there with the best moments I have had in my career. But it still marks five levels under Tests,” Kohli told the broadcasters after the final game. “I would just urge the youngsters coming through to treat that format with respect. Because if you perform in Tests, you walk around anywhere in the world, people look you in the eye and shake your hand and say, ‘well done, you played the game well,” Kohli added. One of the greats of cricket himself, Ponting, agreed with the star Indian batter’s sentiments about Tests. “Yeah, I understand that. I’m probably one of the biggest purists of the game still involved, whether I’m coaching or commentating, my first love is Tests, always will be,” Ponting said.