Marcus Stoinis makes a major statement on Virat Kohli ahead of Border -Gavaskar Trophy against India

India and Australia are set to lock horns in the full-fledged four-match Test series against each other with the first Test starting on Thursday, the 9^th of February at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Meanwhile, both teams are preparing hard for the big Test series against each other.

Notably, this series would be very important for Team India as the result is going to decide their fate in the World Test Championship 2023 Final. Rohit Sharma’s men are ought to win the series either by 3-0, 3-1, or 4-0.

Subsequently, senior Australian cricketer, Marcus Stoinis has come up with a big statement on former Indian skipper and veteran batter Virat Kohli ahead of the commencement of the series.

Kohli is a world-class batsman and has returned to form - Marcus Stoinis on Virat Kohli

"Kohli is a world-class batsman and has returned to form and he is one of the best Test batters, so he could be the biggest threat once again for us. But one player who will be missed this season badly is Rishabh Pant. He is unfortunately not with the team. I wish he recovers soon and comes back to the field," said Stoinis to ANI.

Later on, Stoinis also talked about their preparations alongside the Indian lineup for the Test series and said that the Aussies don’t want to lose the trophy in any way.

"We don't want to lose our trophy this time even though our team never wants to lose it as it could be the third time but we don't want to give up this year," he added later.

"India has some specialist bowlers like Ashwin and Jadeja. They can really bowl well but we are also coming with some specialist spinners, so you can expect a good competition this time," Stoinis concluded.