Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believes that India‘s fearlessness on the big stage was the main factor behind their Test series victories on their last two tours to Australia. Although India has been playing bilateral Test series against Australia since the late 1940s, they had not achieved a series win in Australia for over 70 years.
But in their last two visits to Australia – one was 2-1 series win in 2018/19 and other was 2-1 series win in 2020/21 – they changed their tactics completely.
As cited by Sporting News, Ponting stated that India had no fear for the big matches while speaking on Sky Sports. He also suggested that this explains why the batsmen had been successful in Australia recently during his talk.
“They won a game at the Gabba, which just doesn’t happen. I think their batsmen adapt to overseas batting conditions very well. I don’t think they’re as daunted by the Gabba or the Optus Oval, as they maybe once were. Maybe it is a selection thing, or they just don’t fear the big stage anymore,” said Ponting.
Ponting also believed that the IPL has enhanced the performance of young Indian players in high-pressure situations.
“For the last 10 years being around the IPL, I’ve noticed that a lot of the young guys [don’t fear the big stage anymore] as the IPL is high-pressure, it is like a World Cup for them. Their batsmen are all very aggressive stroke-making players. They are not scared of failing,” he added.
India has triumphed in the last four bilateral Test series against Australia, with their most recent series loss occurring during the 2014/15 tour.
“Leadership has been strong for the past 6-7 years, starting with Kohli’s captaincy”- Ricky Pointing
Ricky Ponting also credited Indian leadership for the turnaround in overseas Tests starting with Virat Kohli from the 2014/15 Australian tour.
Kohli led India to their first-ever Test series victory on Australian soil during the 2018/19 tour. He captained them again when they went down under for a Test series in 2020/21 but returned home after managing to play only one match due to personal issues.
“Their fast-bowling depth is great. The leadership in the last 6-7 years has been strong, going back to Kohli’s start of captaincy, played a big role in turning the cricket around and Dravid has continued the same in the recent four years. The influence of someone like that [Kohli] around a team would be great and they’ve got star players,” said Ponting.
The next installment of the eagerly awaited Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be a five-Test series in Australia, beginning in Perth on November 22.
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.