After the 31-run defeat in the series opener against the visitors India at Adelaide, the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is happy with the same playing XI of the Australian cricket team.
The second Test of the four-match Test series will be played at the new Perth Stadium from this Friday (December 14). While the legendary Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne calls for the Test debut of Marcus Stoinis in the upcoming Perth Test, Ponting feels believes there is no need to change in the playing XI.
Ponting told cricket.com.au, “I’d have to leave it like it is. They decided that was their strongest line-up going into this week and opinion shouldn’t change on the back of one game.”
However, Ponting feels that the batting position can be altered if needed. The top-order batting performances became one of the big factors in the Adelaide Test match for Australia. The Australian opener Aaron Finch widely disappointed with the bat as he failed to provide the good starts in both the innings.
As Aaron Finch is well used to as a middle-order batsman in the domestic first-class cricket and Usman Khawaja is very handy as an opening batsman, Ponting has a bright feeling on these alternative choices.
Ponting told cricket.com.au, “Why wouldn’t they do that (move Finch down the order) for this game if that’s their best line-up? I just think that’d be really reactionary. The selectors have made a decision, or whoever is setting the batting order, that they think Aaron Finch is the right guy to be opening the batting for Australia.
“When you start moving guys around, it just creates more uncertainty. Finch would potentially train differently next week than he had this week because he’s not opening (and) Usman has to train differently because he is opening.
“Little things like that would come into their minds. If I was them, I’d be tempted to keep it the same way.”
Ponting feels that the Australian side can make a comeback in this Test series but it is needed to be in a very quick time.
The former Aussie captain said, “I think Perth will definitely suit our guys a lot more than the Indian players, but the Aussies need to bounce back pretty quickly. They played pretty poorly this week and got within 30 runs. And that’s not saying India played at their absolute best either, but they’re absolutely capable.
“There’s some positives to take from it but they’ve also got to take a good hard look at what they’ve done through this game and make sure they do it a lot better.”
