Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has predicted a very hard time for the Indian team going forward in the four-match Test series after the hosts squandered all the advantage in the first Test and lost the game after being dismissed for their lowest-ever score in Test cricket. He has said that a clean sweep is looming large on the Indian team which has many holes to plug in a very short period of time, while the Australians will keep coming at them with their best.
Ponting, who is also on the commentary panel of Channel 7 for the Australia-India series, said that the home side was able to open the old wounds in the Indian team and that the visitors would need special performances from players to turn things around. He pointed out that the next Test scheduled to start on December 26 in Melbourne holds the key for India’s resurgence in the series, as one more loss would really dent the confidence in India's camp and the Australians would not let them off the hook after that point.
"Now there are some serious wounds opened up. There could be a good chance (of a sweep). Let's hope we do get a result in Melbourne and if we do, I think India's going to find it really hard to bounce back and win a game,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
It’s not easy for teams, especially with so many inexperienced players like India have at the moment, to recover quickly from such a humiliation they got at the hands of Australia. But Ponting believes that how they will cope with the debacle and come back at the MCG would tell a lot about their mental fortitude. He outlined the absence of Virat Kohli as another crucial factor that would halt the progress towards recovery from such a bad performance with the bat.
“We'll learn a lot about them, won't we? With Kohli not being there as well, there's almost no-one to pick them back up after a loss like that,” Ponting added in his post-match remarks to cricket.com.au.
Ricky Ponting called for bringing more cushioning into the batting order of the tourists and batted for the return of Rishabh Pant who was excellent with the bat in the last series down under. He also raised the point of Prithvi Shaw’s place in the playing XI at the top of the order but added that the leadership group of the Indian team, which would now be led by Ajinkya Rahane will have to work hard on lifting the spirits of the players, and just changing the playing XI would not solve that puzzle immediately as the Australians who have exposed the chink in their armour would not be giving up on exploiting it again at the MCG and other Tests that will follow next year.
"They've got to make a couple of changes. Rishabh Pant has to be in that middle order. With Kohli not being there, they've got to strengthen their batting, he's (Pant) got to come in. They'll look at Prithvi Shaw at the top of the order I'm sure but there's one thing to make selection changes, there's another to lift the spirits back up again and make sure they're mentally right for the next challenge because the Australians are not going to go away now,” Ponting added.
Australia, too, will have some selection headaches, but those will be due to the return of their first-choice player in David Warner and Ponting said that the hosts will have a lot less to be worried about while the tourists have a lot of aspects to ponder before the second test begins on December 26.
Emerging talent Will Pucovski is likely to be fit for the second test, but Ponting believes he will have to wait as Joe Burns has earned another chance to secure his place by hitting a fifty in the winning cause in the second innings of the first test.
With the return of Warner, Matthew Wade, who was shifted to open in Adelaide will return to the middle order, but that will be a tricky call for the home side as Cameron Green has looked sharp with the ball and has done nothing wrong to lose out his spot in the next test.
If David's fit he comes straight back in … they've got a decision to make then on. (Cameron) Green and (Matthew) Wade. That's the only obvious thing there. If both Pucovski and Warner are fit, I think Will will have to wait again. On the back of Burns getting fifty, they've got to keep going with him. That's the right call and that's fair enough,” the former Aussie added.
India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane will have a lot to ponder as both Kohli and Shami will head back home. Shami’s injury may well prove to be an excruciating one for the Men in Blue as they are already without Ishant Sharma in Australia and now all their bowling resources and responsibilities lie on the shoulders of Jasprit Bumrah.
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