Right after the conclusion of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Team India will have their next big assignment in the form of World Test Championship (WTC) final which will be played between June 7 to June 11.
Kohli yet again proved his batting prowess with a magnificent century for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their must-win IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and ended his four-year-old ton drought in the glitzy league.
Kohli will be brimming with confidence heading into the all-important WTC final. Meanwhile, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting also warned Australia of Kohil's threat ahead of the marquee final.
Ponting reveals conversation with Kohli
Ponting revealed the conversation with Kohli he had before IPL 2023 got rolling.
“I caught up with Virat about a month ago when we played them in Bangalore,” said Ponting. “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,” Ponting said.
Ponting also said that the WTC final will be a contest between India's top order against Australia's fast bowling.
“I think it'll be India's top order against Australia's fast bowling, It’s a bit of a mouth-watering thought going forward.
“Generally, we think about the battles between India's spinners and Australia's batters. But will that be negated by the wicket at The Oval? Normally the wickets that I've played on The Oval have started as really good batting wickets, and actually have offered a little bit to the spinners as the game's going on. That's what I'd like to see in this wicket – to have a really good contest on day four, day five, or maybe even day six, seeing how it's going," he said.
Ponting, the head coach of Delhi Capitals (DC) in the ongoing cash-rich league, also talked about the effect of IPL might have on the contrasting workload of the Indian and Australian cricketers ahead of the WTC final.
“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 having 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. Is Mohammad Shami going to be in a better (position) skill-wise than Pat Cummins is? Cummins hasn't played any cricket for a few months now. It's a hard one. A lot of it comes down to the individual. The Indian players that are here playing in the IPL won't only be thinking about the IPL. They'll be on workload management stuff to make sure that they're right to bowl in a Test match in a couple of weeks’ time," he concluded.
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