Ricky Ponting says India have a made crucial selection mistake as he detailed where the Border-Gavaskar Test series is likely to be won or lost.
And the former Australian captain, famous for his ruthless approach to the game, says Pat Cummins’ side must cash in on a vulnerable India in Perth when the first ball is bowled on Friday.
With the two best bowling attacks in the world facing off there are concerns over both India’s and Australia’s misfiring top-order with Ponting believing the series will be decided by the middle-order.
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“I think the middle order for both teams could be where the series is won and lost, I think batting against the new ball in every Test match will be difficult,” the Channel 7 Cricket Commentator said.
“Top order runs are going to be hard to come by but if they can make it a little bit easier for the middle order there’s the opportunity for guys like Virat Kohli and Marnus Labuschagne to cash in and really leave their mark.”
Labuschagne is enduring the leanest run of his Test career with just one century in his last 39 innings while Steve Smith will move back into the middle order after his opening experiment failed.
Ponting urged the pair to stick to the basics if they are to rediscover their best form.
“The game doesn’t lose you that quickly, maybe there’s a minor technique thing in there, maybe it’s a bit like me and the end of my career where I was just trying a bit too hard and chasing perfection too much,” Ponting said.
“But that’s the way he and Smith like to go about their batting, it’s about making little technique adjustments and trying different things in different conditions.
“Personally I’d like them just to settle down a little bit and keep it as simple as possible and give themselves the best chance of scoring runs.
“It happens to the best but it can also go the other way where he has a year like Joe Root where you score six, seven hundreds in a year and I think both Smith and Marnus are both more than capable of doing that.”
India have their own concerns with captain Rohit Sharma missing the West Test due to the birth of his second child while his replacement Shubman Gill broke his thumb with star bowler Mohammad Shami also missing through injury.
However, Ponting believes the biggest loss to India’s side compared to their past tours is Chestwear Pujara who has not been selected for this series despite being key to their past two triumphs.
“I think Pujara was a big part of their success in Australia in the past, yes he made runs but he batted for long, long periods of time and really took it out of the Australian bowling attack,” he said.
“When you’re continually bringing those guys back for the second, third, fourth spell of the day that’s when you can really start putting the pressure on the Australians.
“With Cam Green not being there, he’s the one who’s picked up the slack in the past couple of years, it’s going to come onto Mitch Marsh and I don’t think they’ll want to push him hard with the ball.
“So I think India will definitely miss Pujara unless they can find someone to do the same job.”
Given the outs for India, Ponting believes the West Test is almost a must-win for the Aussies if they are to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time in more than a decade.
“If they were at absolute strength for this first Test match I don’t think India would look anywhere near as vulnerable,” he said.
“Those outs make them vulnerable, they won’t be thinking about what happened against New Zealand, if you think back to the last tour they were bowled out for 36 in the first Test and still took the series.
“Often when they’re under pressure is when they perform at their best [but] those outs make them vulnerable.”
The West Test starts Friday 12.30pm AEDT live and free on Channel 7 and 7plus.
