Batting legend Ricky Ponting has made a prediction about the winner of the upcoming Test series between Australia and India.
The Indian cricket team will travel to Australia for five Test matches later this year. The much-awaited series is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth.
In their last two tours, Team India had deified all odds to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. However, Ponting reckons Australia might have the edge this time around.
"It's going to be a competitive series and as I said I think Australia's got a bit of a point to prove against India in Australia on the back of what's happened the last the last two series here," Ponting said while speaking to Sanjana Ganesan on the latest episode of The ICC Review.
"We are back to five Tests as well, which is the other really important thing about this series. It’s only been four Tests the last couple of times. Five tests, I think everyone's really excited by that and I don't know if there'd be too many drawn games.
"I'm obviously going to tip Australia to win and I'm never going to tip against Australia. There will be a draw somewhere and there will be some bad weather somewhere, so I'm going to say 3-1 to Australia," he added.
While Ponting isn't expecting too many surprises with Australian team for the series, he is unsure whether Steve Smith will continue to bat at the top of the order.
"I think Australia will pretty much pick itself," Ponting stated. "Probably the only one question there might be with Australia again, is if (Steve) Smith's the right man to be opening the batting. That would be the only query that I can see there. But that was all about obviously bringing Cameron Green back into the side.
"So I'll rephrase it, not whether Smith's the right man to open the batting but whether he thinks it's the right spot for him. Because I think if he doesn't think it's the right spot then they'll make a change and get someone else back up there."
Talking about India’s pace attack, Ponting suggested that left-armer Khaleel Ahmed’s could be a valuable addition to the touring party, which will also feature the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
"Someone like Khaleel Ahmed I think could find himself on the Test tour," Ponting said. “I know he's just been over in Zimbabwe recently and played that (T20I) series over there, but a left-armer would be ideal for them to have in their touring squad.
"Shami will be back fit by then, Siraj we know will be there abouts somewhere and obviously Bumrah is going nowhere. So both teams are going to line up really, really strongly."
India have held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since March 2017, and Ponting narrated how the rivalry between the two teams has grown over the years.
"I think I was a part of it when that really started to grow, when the rivalry really started to grow, was it's right at the back end of my career," Ponting noted.
"And that's when I think India seemingly really started to stand up to the fight and say, OK you're playing against India now, this is a different Indian team, we've got different leaders and different players and we're going to do it whatever we can to beat you guys - whether it's in India or in Australia.
"I've said for the last couple of years now, Australia have always had a fierce rivalry with England, obviously, and a very strong rivalry with South Africa. But I think India is now sitting right on the back of what an Ashes clash is like and probably overtaken the rivalry with South Africa. So I mean, that's probably enough said. The fact that someone like me is looking at it in that way. I'm sure the players look at it in the same way as well and I'm really excited for the summer.
"There'll be a lot of Indian broadcasters out there. There'll be a lot of Indian fans out here. India will bring a really strong team here. And we know Australia are World Test Champions at the moment so it should be a mouth-watering summer again."
(With ICC Inputs)
