Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was shocked at the massive defeat that the home team suffered at the hands of the injury-ravaged Indian team in the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series 2020-21.
India, needing 328 to win, chased down the target with 3 wickets in hand, as Shubman Gill (91) and Cheteshwar Pujara (55) added 100 plus runs for the second wicket, and then Rishabh Pant (89*), along with cameos from captain Ajinkya Rahane (24) and Washington Sundar (22), took India past the finishing line with 3 overs to spare in the day.
Pant played a Man of the Match winning knock, as he struck 9 fours and 1 six to hand Australia their first defeat at the Gabba, Brisbane after November 1988, and made India the first and only Asian nation to win a Test at the WACA in Perth and at Gabba, Brisbane.
Meanwhile, Ponting was critical of Australia and termed them ‘not good enough’ to win this series, despite being full-strength for the entire series barring the first two Tests, in which David Warner didn’t play.
"I'm quite shocked that Australia wasn't quite good enough to win this series. Considering everything the Indian cricket team has been through in the last five or six weeks, with the captain leaving, all the injuries they've had – they've been through 20 players – (Australia) have been at full-strength all bar Davey (Warner) missing early on, so it's really hard to comprehend,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
Meanwhile, Ponting was all praises for the Indian team’s spirit and resilience and said, “They've played really good, tough, hard Test match cricket day-in and day-out and won all the big key moments through the series. India has won all the big moments in every Test match and Australia has fallen short."
India had to field five debutants in the series as a long list of injuries to batsmen and bowlers meant that even the net bowlers were given Test debuts and they came good.
He said, "Washington Sundar looked like he had played 50 Test matches through the course of this game and never looked out of place. Shardul Thakur was the same in his second Test match, picked up seven wickets and scored 60-odd handy runs in the first innings. They’ve done it, they've done it really well and they thoroughly deserve to win the series."
He further said that due to circumstances, India was possibly fielding their weakest and most inexperienced team in the last two Tests and still managed to draw at SCG and win in Brisbane. Ponting also mentioned that he was concerned for the Australian team as they prepare for the South Africa tour.
"The cold hard facts of it are pretty much that was the India A team that played this Test match and (India) still won. That's a real concern for Australia. I think we gave Australia the benefit of the doubt the last time India were out here because Warner and (Steve) Smith weren't there.
But this time, Australia's at full strength, and India is on the bones of their squad – they're playing net bowlers in Test matches and they're still winning. That's the worry for Australia,” he highlighted.
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"We're probably digging deeper than even an Indian A team and they've still been good enough to win two Test matches here in Australia, and good enough to win one in Brisbane, which just doesn't happen. You can't take anything away from them, they've been awesome.
I'm sure it's a pretty bitter pill to swallow for Justin (Langer, Australia coach) and the boys. Coming into the series they were the No.1-ranked Test team in the world. There's no need for any panic but they've got to find a way to play better cricket. I can't see how any personnel change to that side is going to change much,” he added.
"They go to South Africa next, it's never easy over there but you've got to respond – that's what good teams do. And if they want to be the No.1 team in the world then they're going to have to bounce back pretty quickly,” Ponting signed off.
