During the official curtain raiser for the ICC World Test Championship 2023 final, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting observed that Virat Kohli‘s wicket would be highly valued by the Australian players. Ponting also revealed that Kohli had informed him during a chat about he was close to his best form.
“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 are looking forward to,” he said.
The former Australian captain also highlighted the contest between India’s top order and Australia’s pace attack as a crucial factor in the final. “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.”
Additionally, he talked about whether Australia would have an advantage in relation to acclimating to the conditions in England as a few of their players are currently partaking in the County Championship in England.
“There’s two ways to look at it – I’m not sure there’s a right or wrong. What the Australian players have done though, you know, with Steve Smith and (Marnus) Labuschange being in England there, getting used to the conditions the best they can – they’re giving themselves the best chance. Michael Nesser and Sean Abbott are also over there, bowling, making sure they’re ready in case there’s an injury to any of the Australian fast bowlers.
“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.”
The ICC World Test Championship Final will be held at The Oval from June 7.