Virat Kohli cautions Team India ahead of WTC Final, says ‘cannot expect that…’

“I think The Oval will be challenging, we won’t get a flat wicket and batters need to be cautious. We will need to concentrate on our focus and discipline,” Virat Kohli said during an interview with Star Sports on Follow the Blues.

Virat Kohli called it the beauty of the World Test Championship that two neutral teams will play without the home advantage.

“So you need to have the experience to play as per the conditions and we cannot go in with the expectation that The Oval pitch will play as it always has. So we have to adjust and adapt, we have only one match in a neutral venue so whoever adapts better will win the match. This is the beauty of the World Test Championship, two neutral teams with no home advantage, so it will be very exciting to see how both teams adapt to the situation,” Kohli added.

Transition from IPL to WTC Final

Virat Kohli is coming from a good season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he ended up among the top batsman of the tournament, but cricket veterans have pointed out that the transition from the T20 format to the Test format may not be very smooth and the batters will have to be extra cautious.

Former head coach of Team India Ravi Shastri said that Virat Kohli enjoys batting against Australia and if he crosses 20 runs, he can play a big innings in the WTC Final. “Virat Kohli will wake up differently if the match is against Australia, he smells the coffee much earlier if it’s Australia, so if he gets going, gets to 20, then we will have some fun,” Shastri said.

In the Test format against Australia, Virat Kohli has played 24 Tests and scored 1,979 runs at an average of 48.26. With the best score of 186, the run machine secured 8 centuries and 5 half-centuries.

Updated: 06 Jun 2023, 09:27 PM IST