“Virat Kohli is almost back to his absolute best”- Ricky Ponting sounds warning bells for Australia ahead of ICC WTC 2023 final

Virat Kohli is the in-form batter for India going into the WTC final with 583 runs to his name in IPL 2023.

Ricky Ponting, former Australia captain, stated that Virat Kohli feels like he is "back to his absolute best" and that Australian players will prize his wicket the most in the forthcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final.

The most successful male Australian captain introduced the Test Mace, the prized trophy on May 19 in Delhi, which Australia and India will be competing for in an occasion, and then engaged in conversation with neighborhood school children and the media in an event organized by ICC.

In particular, the 48-year-old seemed visibly enthusiastic about the match-ups involving some of the greatest in the industry, and about the idea of watching high-quality Test cricket at The Oval beginning on June 7.

I'm sure Virat Kohli will be the prize wicket that all the Australians will look for- Ricky Ponting

Among them is India's No. 4 player, Kohli. The 34-year-old has been unstoppable since he recovered his form, and Ponting thinks it means problems for Australia. On Thursday, he scored his sixth IPL century against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

"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 forward to,” Ponting was quoted by ICC.

There's been talk about how a significant portion of India's WTC squad have been playing the IPL in the lead up to the Test, as opposed to just four from Australia, and how that would affect their preparations for the Test.

But Ponting believes there are advantages with both approaches.

"There are two ways you can look at it. For someone like Virat (Kohli) – is he better off playing now and scoring runs at a consistent basis, and have 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.

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,” Ponting said.

The ICC World Test Championship 2023 final will be played at The Oval, starting June 7.