Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has cautioned his countrymen about Virat Kohli ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, which begins on June 7th at The Oval. The Tasmanian said Kohli told him about getting back to his best.
Earlier this year, the right-hander ended a three-year Test century drought by hitting 186 against Australia in Ahmedabad. He has also been in spectacular form in the IPL this year, as evidenced by his sixth century in the tournament’s history, which he achieved on Thursday.
Ponting recalled meeting Kohli during an IPL game in Bangalore and how the former Indian skipper proved to be at the top of his game at the event’s ceremonial curtain raiser in Delhi. The Delhi Capitals’ coach believes it might cause problems for Australia
Ponting on Virat Kohli:
“I caught up with Virat about a month ago when we played them in Bangalore. And I had a good chat to him about his batting and where he was at and his career. And he said to me then that he actually feels like he’s almost back to his absolute best. You probably saw that last night, you know, he’s had a very good IPL and I’m sure he’ll be the prize wicket that all the Australians are looking forward to.”
The Delhi-born batsman had a disappointing performance in the previous WTC final against New Zealand. Although Kohli batted bravely in the first innings, he got out for 13 in the second as India lost by eight wickets.
Ricky Ponting dissects India’s and Australia’s preparation
Meanwhile, Ponting evaluated both teams’ preparations for the final, saying:
“There are two ways you can look at it. For someone like Virat – is he better off playing now and scoring runs at a consistent basis, and have confidence going into a game? Rather than being the Australian guys that have been back home, haven’t been playing much cricket, will be mentally better prepared, but haven’t got the runs and cricket under their belt.”
Australia was the top-ranked team at the end of the current WTC cycle, followed by India.