Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting reckons that India’s batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara has posed a challenge for the Aussie bowlers in the past and that they would need to pick his wicket early in the WTC final match in England.
“The Australian team will be talking about Pujara. Pujara has been a thorn in their side a lot in the past and in Australia.”
“They know they will have to get him early,” Ponting said on The ICC Review Podcast.
Meanwhile, Pujara is enjoying a great season of County Cricket as he has notched three tons for his side Sussex. His form in England is a shot in the arm for the Indian team which has been struck by a string of injuries and the unavailability of key players.
Ponting also believes that former India skipper Virat Kohli, too, is a difficult opponent for them and said, “The Australian team will be talking about Virat. No doubt about it.”
When asked about the “key-battle” he’s looking forward the most to, Ponting said, “Knowing English conditions, you’d say it’ll be opening batsman vs opening bowler because generally English conditions are new ball bowling conditions.”
“If you bowl well with the new ball, you can do early damage. If you can bat well against the new ball you can set the game up for your team early on.”
Later in the podcast when host Sanjana Ganesan quizzed Ponting on his prediction for the WTC final winner, the batting great said that Australia has an upper hand for they have been playing at similar conditions as the Oval lately.
“If you look at the conditions at the Oval, they are a lot more similar to what the Australian players are used to in Australia than what the Indian players are used to playing on. From that point of view, I’ll give a slight advantage to Australia.”
The former captain also shed light on how injury blows to both the teams will affect their performance in the final Test.
“He (Josh Hazlewood) might not even be considered for selection. That does leave a bit of a chink in Australia’s armor,” he said.
“Australia right now probably has the edge because If you see India’s injury concerns with KL being ruled out, Umesh Yadav has been under injury clouds,” he added.
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Speaking more on KL’s absence from the squad, Ponting said that if were to choose the wicketkeeper, he’d pick Ishan Kishan over KS Bharat.
“They (team India) have to make a decision on their keeper. Before KL didn’t get injured I thought they could’ve played him and Bharat in the same team but I don’t they will do that now,” he said.
“They have to decide who their best keeper is. If I was them, knowing the importance of this game when you have to win this Test match, if you wanna be crowned as the World’s Test Champion I’d be going with Ishan Kishan.”
“I think he provides a little bit of that x-factor that you might need when you might be pushing for a win in a Test match.”
“If Rishabh Pant was fit, he’d be playing but with him not being there I think Kishan provides little bit more x-factor, will do good job with the gloves but can provide that really high scoring run rate that might be required,” he added.