'Virat Kohli Told me He is Almost Back to His Absolute Best': Ricky Ponting Fires Warning to Australia Ahead of WTC Final

Legendary Australia captain Ricky Ponting suggested that Virat Kohli will be a price wicket which Australian bowlers will target in the upcoming World Test Championship final next month. Kohli has regained form and scoring consistently well across formats in the past few months. The batting maestro slammed a ton against Australia in the fourth match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year and all eyes will be on him once again when India face Pat Cummins and Co. in the WTC Final at the Oval on June 7.

Kohli has been scoring consistently well for RCB this season in IPL as he scored a sublime century on Thursday night against Sunrisers Hyderabad to keep his team’s hopes alive in the tournament.

Also Read | ‘Hot Or Not’: Cricket Broadcast Touches a New Low During IPL 2023 Pre-match Show Of SRH vs RCB

Ponting revealed that he had a chat with Kohli in Bangalore during the IPL match where the RCB maestro told him he has got his mojo back and is almost back to his best.

“I caught up with Virat about a month ago when we played them in Bangalore,” said Ponting. “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,” Ponting said at an event on Friday.

While Ponting also talked about Kohli’s ton against SRH and fired a warning to the Australian team about his form.

“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,” he added.

Meanwhile, India will be without some of their key players in the WTC final as KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah are recovering from their respective injuries.

Ponting suggested that the contest will be between India’s top-order and Australian pace attack at the Oval.

“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,” he added.