IND vs AUS 2022-23: 'It will be a fearless man to write Virat Kohli off' - Aaron Finch

Former Indian skipper and top-order batter Virat Kohi bounced back to form during the Asia Cup 2022 earlier this month in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He finished as India's highest run-scorer in the tournament. He was the only Indian to slam a century, which happened to be his maiden Twenty20 International (T20I) ton and his first international 100 in almost three years. Consequently, he has secured his place in the Indian side for the upcoming Australia and South Africa T20Is at home, followed by the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia next month. Meanwhile, Australian T20I skipper Aaron Finch has warned all never to write off Kohli.

"It will be a courageous man to write Virat Kohli off. At any stage, he has shown for 15 years now that he is one of the greatest players of all time. Particularly in T20 cricket, he has developed and grown his game over such a long period that you always plan and prepare the best when coming up against him. He is super and has 71 international centuries. That's just ridiculous," Finch told reporters on Monday.

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Finch recently announced his retirement from the One-Day Internationals (ODIs), as he struggled with his batting, while he will be in focus ahead of the T20WC. "Over a long time, you get pretty comfortable with criticism, but in T20 cricket, I feel my form has been perfect for quite a while now. They're different if you separate the ODI form and the T20 form. They're two different formats of the game," he quoted.

Although it would be a perfect warm-up for Australia ahead of the T20WC, conditions at home would be vastly different to that of India. "Every decision that we make, I think, has one eye towards the World Cup and seeing the wicket yesterday, it looked like there was quite a bit of grass on it," Finch expressed.

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"And, we know in Mohali, the ball can swing around, and it can carry through quite a bit, so I think we will be mindful of not being too narrow-minded regarding our focus. Over the last six-eight-ten months, we've tried to ensure that everything we're doing in the T20 space ties back into the World Cup. And, for us, it's about making sure that once we get there, we've had plenty of different combinations of teams we can play," communicated Finch.

Australia has rested many senior players for the India T20Is, including David Warner, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell March. T20 globetrotter Tim David, who has previously played international cricket for Singapore, will make his Australia debut in the India T20Is. He is being considered the x-factor in the squad. Also, Finch guaranteed that former skipper and top-order batter Steven Smith would bat at number three during the opening T20I at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium on Tuesday.

(With inputs from PTI)