'Australia Know Virat Kohli Probably Just About Back to His Absolute Best': Ricky Ponting Ahead of WTC Final

Legendary captain Ricky Ponting said that the Australian team is definitely talking about Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in their camp ahead of the World Test Championship final in London. The much-anticipated clash between India and Australia will be played at the Oval starting on June 7. Both teams have already arrived in London and are training hard to get back to the Test cricket mould. The Indian team will play the WTC final second time in a row as in the inaugural edition Virat Kohli and Co. suffered a defeat to New Zealand in the summit clash.

Australia recently lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to India but the pitch and conditions will be completely different in England which might suit Pat Cummins a bit more. While India’s Test talisman Pujara has been in England for the past few years and has scored heavily in county cricket for Sussex. On the other hand, Kohli has been in great form this year and scored a ton against Australia in the last Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

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Ponting said that Pujara and Kohli will be key for India’s success in WTC Final as the duo also has a good record against Australia.

“The Australian team will be talking about Virat, no doubt about it, and they’ll be talking about Pujara. They’re the two,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.

“Pujara has been a thorn in their side a lot in the past, and in Australia, and this wicket will potentially be a lot more like an Australian pitch. They know that they’ll have to get him early.”

Ponting further pointed out that Kohli has been in great form and scored big runs in IPL 2023 and revealed that the Indian batter himself told him that he is back to his best.

“They also know that Virat over the last few weeks is probably just about back to his absolute best, albeit in T20 cricket.

“He told me that the feeling he’s getting right now is that he’s almost back to his best, and that’s an ominous warning for the Australians going into a one-off game,” he added.