Ricky Ponting, an Australian icon, has said that Virat Kohli believes he is “back to his absolute best” and that his wicket would be the most desired by Australian players in the forthcoming ICC World Test Championship final. Ponting also stated that Kohli’s wicket will be the most prized by Indian players.
In the early morning hours of Friday (19 May), Ponting delivered his remarks in New Delhi at the event’s official “curtain raiser.” During an event that was put on by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the most successful men’s Australian captain ever introduced the Test Mace, which is the coveted trophy that both India and Australia are competing for. He then talked with local academy youngsters and members of the media.
After Saturday’s match between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, the final game of the Indian Premier League 2023, Ponting is scheduled to return home. In spite of this, he expressed that he “can’t wait” to fly to London immediately thereafter in order to fulfill his role as a commentator for the WTC23 final.
The 48-year-old man appeared to be obviously enthused about the possibility of seeing high-quality Test cricket at The Oval beginning on June 7, particularly the match-ups that would be taking place amongst some of the greatest in the industry.
One of them is Kohli, who is ranked fourth for India. The 34-year-old batsman has been unstoppable ever since he recovered his form, scoring his sixth century in the Indian Premier League against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday. Ponting feels that this bodes ill for Australia’s chances of winning the tournament.
“I caught up with Virat about a month ago when we played them in Bangalore,” said Ponting. “We were competing against each other.” “And we had a great conversation about his batting, where he was at in his career, and where he was at in his life.” And at that time, he shared with me that he genuinely believes he is getting close to being at his utmost best again.
“I’m sure you saw that last night, you know, he’s had a very good IPL, and I’m certain that he’ll be the prize wicket that all of the Australians are looking forward to.” “You probably saw that last night.”
Several important players for India won’t be available for The Ultimate Test — Rishabh Pant is sidelined for the foreseeable future, KL Rahul was unable to participate in the IPL Final due to an injury he sustained throughout the tournament, and Jasprit Bumrah is still recovering from a back issue.
In light of this, Ponting predicted that the match between India’s top order and Australia’s pace attack would be the most important aspect of the final. It’s a bit of a mouthwatering concept going forward, but I think it’ll be India’s top order vs Australia’s quick bowling.
“In general, when we think about the clashes, we think about the spinners from India and the batsmen from Australia. However, can the wicket at The Oval be able to counteract that? The wickets that I’ve played on at The Oval have often started off as being incredibly fantastic for batting, but they’ve really offered a little bit to the spinners as the game has progressed.
“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, depending on how it’s going,” the commentator said. “It’s going to be really difficult to score runs on this wicket.”
There has been discussion over how the fact that a substantial chunk of India’s WTC squad has been playing the IPL in the build up to the Test, as compared to just four from Australia, would effect their preparations for the Test. This is in comparison to the fact that Australia has only sent four players.
But Ponting argues that there are benefits to be gained from both strategies. “There are two ways you can look at it,” he added. “It depends on how you look at it.” “For somebody like Virat Kohli, the question is: Is it better for him to play now and score runs on a continuous basis so that he can have confidence heading into a game?
Rather than being the Australian lads that have been back home and haven’t been playing much cricket, who will be psychologically more prepared, but who haven’t had the runs and cricket under their belt…
Is it possible that Mohammad Shami will be in a better situation in terms of his skills than Pat Cummins is now in? Since the beginning of the summer, Cummins has not participated in any cricket matches. It’s not an easy question. The individual is responsible for a significant portion of the outcome.
“The Indian players who are now in this country to compete in the IPL won’t be focused only about the IPL. They will be working on workload management techniques to ensure that they are fit to bowl in the upcoming test match, which will take place in a couple of weeks.”There are two ways to look at it, and I’m not sure whether there is a good or wrong way to look at it.
However, what the Australian players have done – you know, with Steve Smith and (Marnus) Labuschange being in England there, getting accustomed to the circumstances as best they can – is give themselves the best opportunity of winning. Michael Nesser and Sean Abbott are also present in order to maintain their readiness in the event that one of the Australian fast bowlers sustains an injury. Both players are now bowling over there.
To tell you the truth, I don’t believe either option has any significant benefits. If you were to ask Virat what he’d rather be doing right now, I have no doubt he’d reply he’d rather be scoring runs than anything else. If you were to ask the fast bowlers their opinion, they would undoubtedly tell you that they would rather have a couple of weeks off to relax. It can be used in either direction.
Beginning on June 7, 2023, the final of the ICC World Test Championship will be contested at The Oval in London.