Australia captain Aaron Finch had admitted to being wary of Virat Kohli’s return to form and said it will take a very brave man to write the former India captain off. “It will be a very brave 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,” Finch said on the eve of the opening T20I in Mohali.

“Particularly in T20 cricket, he’s someone who has developed and grown his game over such a long period that you always plan and prepare the best when you’re coming up against him. “He is super and has 71 international centuries. That’s just ridiculous,” Finch said.

Finch recently announced his retirement from ODIs following his struggles with the bat but will lead in the T20 World Cup at home. “Over a long period of time, you get pretty comfortable with criticism but in T20 cricket, I feel my form has been really good for quite a while now. I think if you separate the ODI form and the T20 form, then they’re totally different, they’re two different formats of the game,” said Finch.

Finch confirmed that Steve Smith will bat at No.3 on Tuesday. “Most likely he (Smith) will bat at three in this series with Mitch Marsh being out. We know the quality that Steve’s got. He’s one of the best players that has ever played the game over all formats of the game. So we know the skill that he’s got and the game sense and the tactical nous that he’s got.

“So we’re really confident that regardless of what role he has to play within the structure of the squad, that he can do that very, very well,” he said.

Australia have rested David Warner, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell March for the India series. Finch spoke highly of Cameron Green. “I think his ability to bat at five, six, seven in the one-day team has been really impressive... He’s just such a great kid, someone who continues to impress with everything that he does.”