All-format great: Australian cricketers share their thoughts on Virat Kohli ahead of exciting WTC Final

One of the greatest ever players to decorate the sport of cricket with his skill over the years, Virat Kohli continues to dominate across three formats, and the star batsman will soon be in action in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia at the Kia Oval, starting June 7th. 

Kohli’s outing with the bat could well translate into how India fare in the big final, with the squad missing some talented names in the middle order owing to injuries. In the 2021-23 WTC cycle culminating in the final, Kohli’s India’s second-highest run-scorer with 869 runs in 28 innings at an average of 32.18, only 18 runs behind Cheteshwar Pujara. 

In a recent video released by ICC, a few of the Australian players as part of their WTC squad were asked to describe what they think of Kohli, and they had a lot of interesting things to say. 

Talented all-rounder Cameron Green said, “The man of India and he has been for quite a while, he’s been leading the team for the last decade and has been so successful.”

Seasoned opener David Warner, who has spent many years playing against Kohli just chose to describe the India star with one of his signature shots and said, “Unbelievable cover drive.”

Marnus Labuschagne, often touted as one of the best Test players of this generation spoke about Kohli’s greatness but with a twist, saying “One of the greats. All format great, hopefully not so great this week.”

Australia’s best batsman in this WTC cycle, Usman Khawaja termed Kohli “competitive”, while pacer Mitchell Starc referred to the Indian star as the “backbone of the middle order.”

Australian skipper Pat Cummins referred to the energy Kohli exudes and said, “good player, always seems like he’s up for the fight”, while Steve Smith reserved his thoughts for how much the stylish Indian right-hander enjoys playing against the Aussies. 

Smith said, “Obviously, he’s been a superstar for a long period of time. Loves playing against Australia, often scores runs against us but hopefully, we can keep him quiet this week.”