Picture Credit: X
Former Australia captain and one of the greats of the game, Ricky Ponting while speaking on The ICC Review put down several predictions around the highly-anticipated five-match Test series between India and Australia. Although the former Aussie cricketer reconfirmed his prediction of a 3-1 scoreline in favour of the hosts, he also dropped the name of the possible leading run-scorer in the series.
It is to be noted that Ponting in August made a prediction with the BGT 2024-25 ending 3-1 in favour of the hosts, and he recently reconfirmed his stateme nt seeing India’s recent slump of form in the Test series against New Zealand along with Mohammed Shami’s injury struggles .
Pant or Smith to finish as leading run-getter, Hazlewood to be highest wicket-taker: Ponting
While highlighting India’s positives to secure a potential series victory, Ponting convinced Australia to finish in a superior position. “I think India will win a Test match somewhere through the five Test matches. But I still think now, Australia probably look a bit more settled, a bit more experienced and we know that they’re a very hard team to beat at home. So I’ll stick with the 3-1,” Ponting stated.
He also put his bet on Steven Smith and Rishabh Pant to finish as the leading run-getter in the series, whereas he picked Josh Hazlewood as the highest wicket-taker. "Leading run scorer, I'm going to go - Steve Smith or Rishabh Pant. I think Smith, the fact that he's moved back down from opener to No.4 probably makes it feel like he's got more of a point to prove...that maybe he shouldn't have gone up to open in the first place and that No.4 is his spot and where he should have probably been the whole time and where he probably finished his career now," he further added.
“I think Hazlewood out of the Australian quicks, is right at the moment, is probably at the peak of his powers more than the other guys. So I’ll go with him for the leading wicket-taker,” he continued.
Nathan McSweeney likely to make Test debut in BGT 2024-25, feels Ricky Ponting
The former Australian skipper also feels that 25-year-old Nathan McSweeney comes to be the obvious choice to open the innings alongside veteran Usman Khawaja with Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris both unlikely to feature. While speaking on The ICC Review, Ponting said, “I don’t think they’d go back to (Cameron) Bancroft or (Marcus) Harris because if they’re willing to do that, they would’ve done it last year. So, the only name left for me more or less is Nathan McSweeney, who is Queensland-born now playing for South Australia. He got the most out of any of those guys from the ‘A’ game in Australia at the moment.”
He also highlighted McSweeney’s experience in the format over Bancroft and Harris while adding, “And he’s more experienced. He has captained Australia A in the past, and he’s captaining them now. So, I’m leaning towards McSweeney now for that opening role at the start of the Australian summer.”
The highly-anticipated five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to kickstart from November 22 with the first Test scheduled to be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth. While the Aussies currently sit at the top of the World Test Championship standings, India will have a herculean task in order to confirm their third straight appearance in the WTC Final in June 2025.
