Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has made a harsh but true call that veteran opener David Warner might lose his place in the Australian XI in the ongoing India-Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series after his failure in the first innings of the ongoing Nagpur Test.
Warner, who came into the Test series with underwhelming numbers in Tests in India, failed to do much after he was clean bowled by Mohammad Shami on the third over of the Australian innings after Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat.
Warner’s batting record in overseas Tests isn’t flattering with the southpaw accumulating 2,994 runs at a modest average of 33.64. In India, it drops further to 22.88.
Ricky Ponting opined on the same and even said that national selectors might reconsider Warner’s spot in the Australian XI if he continues to not score.
“I think he averages 24 in India, something like that, from about eight Test matches. Nine Test matches — well, eight-and-a-half, he’s got another (innings) yet — but that average would’ve dipped down again today (Thursday). He’s one of the players that has come out and said that winning in India, as far as he’s concerned, would be maybe even bigger than winning an Ashes series,” Ponting said on ICC Review.
The former captain added that if Australia is really keen on winning the series, they should pick their best lineup, and hinted that Warner’s spot in the XI should be revisited.
“So, if the selectors and the coach and the captain, if they are so hell-bent on winning this series and a couple of their batters for the first few games don’t fire, then I think they have to have a look at picking who they think is their best line-up going forward,” said Ponting.
“I think Head’s been left out of this Test match because of his record in the subcontinent, plus the amount of left-handers that Australia have in their side. So you could probably say the same thing about David Warner.
The other thing on the back of it, unfortunately for David, is that he also hasn’t got a great record in England. The next Test series they play is very soon after this one finishes, obviously with an IPL in the middle. David knows in his own heart of hearts that he needs to score some runs in the first part of this series,” added Ponting.
Australia managed just 177 runs in their first innings with Marnus Labuschagne top scoring with 49 while Ravindra Jadeja picked 5/47.
(PTI inputs)
