‘King Kohli’ is well & truly back. Even the failures of the last three years could not stop Virat Kohli from rising back again from the ashes. Not only the cricketing fans but even the former captain of the world cricket-dominating side Australia, Ricky Ponting, believes that Kohli is back to his absolute best and has issued a warning to the Kangaroos for keeping a close eye over his wicket in the World Test Championship final.
During an event in New Delhi on Friday, Ponting unveiled the Test mace for which India and Australia will battle against each other from June 7 in England. The most successful men’s Australian captain then interacted with the kids and reporters in an event organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Ponting believes that in-form Kohli will be a big threat for Australia in the final.
“I caught up with Virat about a month ago when we played them in Bangalore, and I had a good chat with 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 are looking forward to,” said Ponting.
Most of the Indian players are participating in the ongoing IPL season, while the Aussies are utilising this break as a period for refreshment and making sure that their body remains fit before the big final.
Notably, 13 players of India’s WTC final squad are participating in IPL 2023, whereas only four players from Australia are part of the ongoing tournament. But Ponting believes it isn’t a disadvantage for the Rohit Sharma-led side.
“There are two ways you can look at it,” he said. “For someone like Virat (Kohli) – 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. I don’t think there’s an advantage either way, to be honest. But I’m sure if you ask Virat what he’d rather be doing, he’d say he’d rather be scoring runs now. If you ask the fast bowlers they’d probably say that they’d probably prefer to have a couple of weeks rest. It works both ways,” added Ponting.
On the work front, Ponting is set to return home following Delhi Capitals‘(DC) poor run at the IPL 2023 and will now join the ICC commentary panel for the WTC final.
