Former Australian all-rounder Shane Lee, on Tuesday, admitted that he was left shocked after he heard Australia legend Ricky Ponting's comment on Virat Kohli's form ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which begins on November 22, with the opener in Perth. Lee's comment came hours after India head coach Gautam Gambhir hit back at Ponting over his statement, questioning his expertise on Indian cricket.

There is an old saying—'Do not poke the bear,' which the Aussies firmly believe—that sits perfectly for Kohli, who has tormented them over the years. Hence, Lee, who featured in two Australian World Cup squads, was taken aback by Ponting's comment as Australia look to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in over a decade, which includes back-to-back losses in their own backyard in India's previous two visits.

“That is a bad move, Ricky. What are you doing? You are going to fire that guy up. He is a world class player and he will fire up out here,” Lee said on Fox Cricket’s podcast The Follow On.

What did Ponting say on Kohli?

The former India captain came under fire following his poor show in the recently-concluded New Zealand Test series, where India were blanked 0-3 at home. Kohli scored just 93 runs, at 15.50, his worst average on a home contest in seven years. As Ponting expressed concern over Kohli's form, he highlighted that the 35-year-old only scored three centuries in the last five years, comprising 60 Test innings.

“I saw a stat the other day about Virat — it said he’s only scored two Test hundreds in the last five years. That didn’t seem right to me, but if that is accurate, then that’s, I mean, that’s a concern,” Ponting said.

“There probably wouldn’t be anyone else still playing international cricket as a top-order batsman who’s only scored two Test match hundreds in five years.”

Lee further admitted that amid Ponting's recent comment and the ball-tampering claims made during the India A series earlier this month, he expects a "spicy series" between the two heavyweights.

“I think it is going to be a fantastic series. I think there is going to be a bit of spice in this series, definitely with the ball tampering issues in and around the India A team, and particularly now that Ricky Ponting has now come out and given it to Kohli,” he said.

Despite India's recent loss at home, Lee outlined the concerns around Australia's batting and hence predicted a 2-2 result in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

“We have a world class attack with Mitchell Starc, (Pat) Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Nathan) Lyon. I mean, ‘c’mon’. It doesn’t get much better than that,” he said.

“(But) our batting is fragile. It is probably one of the weaker batting line-ups I have seen for an Australian Test side in a long while. (Nathan) McSweeney is going to come in and he is under pressure, because he has never batted as an opener, and I think that is a specialist position.

“(Usman) Khawaja is the stand out for me (for Australia) at the moment. He is going to play really well. (Marnus) Labuschagne, for me, has been out of form for a while, as has Steve Smith.

“It is going to come down to our batting and how well we can handle pressure, particularly with (Jasprit) Bumrah and their pace attack steaming in when the wicket is doing a bit.”

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