Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis here on Wednesday.

Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has relocated February’s tri-nation One-Day International (ODI) series with New Zealand and South Africa from Multan to Lahore and Karachi, two cities set to host the Champions Trophy later in the month.

The PCB said the move was due to the advanced stage of preparations at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Karachi’s National Stadium, which will host six of the 12 Champions Trophy group stage matches.

Lahore will also host one semi-final as well as the final provided India, who are playing all their matches in Dubai following an agreement that neither India nor Pakistan will visit each other’s countries for ICC tournament matches, do not qualify.

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will also host three matches of the eight-team tournament.

The PCB is upgrading the facilities at all three venues in the country as Pakistan prepares to host an ICC tournament for the first time since 1996, when they co-hosted the ODI World Cup.

The tri-series will be played from February 8-14, while the Champions Trophy will kick off on Feb. 19 in Karachi, with defending champions Pakistan playing New Zealand.

Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has termed the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah the greatest all-format fast bowler after his Player-of-the-Series performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Bumrah produced one of the best-ever bowling performances by an overseas pacer in Australia and picked up 32 wickets over five Tests.

“The thing I’ve thought about Bumrah, after the series finished and I was sitting and thinking about his performances, I actually think he’s the best fast bowler ever across all three formats,” Clarke told ESPN.

“I know a lot of great fast bowlers, Curtly Ambrose, Glenn McGrath, didn’t get to play T20 cricket, so I’m not talking about those guys. But in regards to anyone who has played all three formats, I think he might be the best ever.

“He’s actually that good in any conditions, that’s what makes him great; any conditions, any format, this guy’s a freak.”

The former Australia captain believed that India could have won the series-deciding Sydney Test had Bumrah bowled in Australia’s second innings and some more runs under their belt.

Bumrah had suffered an injury on the second day of the match at SCG and was immediately taken to the hospital for a scan.

The Indian pace spearhead returned to bat the following morning but he did not bowl in Australia’s second innings because of a back spasm as the hosts successfully chased down a target of 162 with six wickets in hand to win the series 3-1.

“I reckon India were probably 20 runs short (in Sydney),” Clarke said.

“I reckon a 180 lead, with Bumrah in the team, I think India are home. I think Bumrah is that good… he’s so much better than the other bowlers they had in the team.”

Bumrah was in a league of his own as his 32 wickets came at an incredible average of 13.06 and a strike rate of 28.3.

Mohammed Siraj was the next highest wicket-taker among Indian pacers with 20 scalps at 31.15.