The India team has so far appeared on the back foot in the final match of the World Test Championship being played between India and Australia. The Indian team have disappointed in both the batting and bowling departments. While batting first in the match, Australia had scored 469 runs, in response to which India were only able to score 296 runs in their first innings. Meanwhile, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has raised doubts about the preparation of the India team.
In the Indian bowling, Mohammed Shami and Siraj have been seen on excellent pace so far, while Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur have not impressed much. Speaking to the ‘PTI’ news agency about these shortcomings of the Indian team, Ponting said: “I think they have lagged behind so far. Their preparation for this test match was probably not ideal. All their players had been IPL players.
The former Australian captain further said: “You know some Australian players were there too (at IPL 2023). At the same time, some Australian players hadn’t done anything for three months. I don’t know (how much impact he had on Indian batsmen) If you ask Virat I would say it’s perfect for him because he has scored all kinds of runs. If you ask Rahane, he would not have been selected for this match without IPL. He’s going to work both ways.”
Speaking further, Ricky Ponting recounted what he had discussed with Shardul Thakur. Ponting said: “I spoke to Shardul. He said that he is starting to feel worried because he doesn’t play enough. The number of bowls he bowled in a day and a half was not done in the entire IPL.
