Australia legend Ricky Ponting has given his take on the much-debated Nagpur pitch after Australia were bundled out for 177, and has revealed what first gave him the impression the series would be a “nightmare” for Australia.
The pitch debate
There were quite a few comments on the pitch for the Nagpur Test from former and current players and Ponting believed preparing turning wickets was India’s best chance of beating Australia.
“I expected today’s wicket to play like it has. I got a look at it like everyone did a few days ago, and that’s when all the talk started about the surface. But India’s best chance of beating Australia is to prepare turning wickets. One, because our batsmen will find it difficult, but also because they would think that their spin bowlers are better than Australia’s as well.
“And the fact that Australia are playing the two right-arm off-spinners here, one of those guys on debut. That’s definitely where India have the advantage. So I can understand why it’s worked out that way.”
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However, Ponting added that in Australia, the players or Cricket Australia didn’t have a say on the sort of pitches they wanted.
“The only difference I guess with somewhere like India to Australia is, I know in Australia the players actually have no say over how the wickets are prepared at all,” he said.
“Unless things have changed the last couple of years, when I was playing, and certainly after I’d finished, the captains or anyone from Cricket Australia never even spoke to the groundsmen. You just left it up to the groundsmen to prepare the best wicket that they could.
“The beauty of playing Test match cricket in Australia is every venue’s wicket is vastly different. Perth and Brisbane are two of the faster, bouncier wickets in Australia, where you understand the ball’s going to swing and seem a little bit.
“Then you get Melbourne and Sydney, they’re a little bit different. Melbourne’s always been a little bit slower and Adelaide has been the place where you’ve played the pink-ball Test the last six or seven years. So you get different conditions there as well.”
Rahul given the nod ahead of Shubman Gill
India chose to go with KL Rahul at the top of the order alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav was handed a debut in the middle-order. It left no room for the in-form Shubman Gill in the XI and Ponting thought that it was an “interesting” choice by India.
“Shubman’s obviously coming in red-hot form,” he said. “Everything he’s done lately in the white-ball game has been quite remarkable. We saw him in Australia a couple of summers ago and he played really well, and looked at home most of the time in Australian conditions.”
Ponting, however, quickly pointed out that Rahul too was a high-quality Test match batter and that the decision could have been about who plays spin better.
“If India were thinking the same way as Australia, then they’re probably looking at who their best players of spin are, and particularly with what Australia had coming into the game, I think everyone probably felt that they were going to play the two right-arm off-spinners.
“It could even be as simple as that. What does Shubman Gill average against the ball spinning in and what does KL Rahul average against the ball spinning in?”
“I think when you get in conditions like this and you, and you’re starting to look at numbers, and strengths and weaknesses, I think you have to dig really deep to make sure you are picking the right players for the right game.”
Jadeja’s return to Test cricket
Ravindra Jadeja was the hero for India on day one with his 11th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. The left-arm spinner dismissed Labuschagne and Smith, arguably the two best batters in the visiting side, and then wrapped up the lower order to finish with impressive figures of 5/47.
“Because of how he [Jadeja] bowls on those sort of wickets – the pace that he bowls, the line that he bowls to right-handers in particular, where he is pitching the ball on the stumps all the time, and one would turn and one will slide on, like we saw, with the dismissal of Steven Smith today.
“I mean they’re two identical deliveries. One just happened to turn and the other one went straight on and went back through the gate and bowled him.”
The former Australian skipper said that he knew Australia were in for a “nightmare” after seeing Jadeja take a seven-wicket haul on his return to Ranji Trophy cricket for Saurashtra a week ahead of the Test match.
“As the series goes on, if his body holds up and he can get through the four Test matches, I think he could very well be the leading wicket-taker in this entire series.”
