Ricky Ponting has selected his combined India-Australia Test XI ahead of the World Test Championship final between the two. The former Australia skipper has gone for form over reputation in his choices on the latest episode of The ICC Review.
Ponting first chose an opener from either teams with a left-right combination as Rohit Sharma and Usman Khawaja were named at the top of the batting order.
With that, Ponting picked Rohit Sharma as the captain of the playing XI even though his full team does include Pat Cummins.
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“I’ll start with Usman Khawaja. His last couple of years, whether it has been in Australia or away, have been outstanding at the top of the order,” Ponting said on The ICC Review podcast.
“Almost since he’s been picked back in the Australian team, he hasn’t put a foot wrong. The older he is getting, the better he is getting.
“I’m going left hand-right hand, so I’ll go for Rohit Sharma as the other opener. He’s not just entirely form-based either. I wanted him to be captain of the side.
“Pat Cummins, I’ll mention him later, he’ll be in this side, but just from the experience point of view with Rohit, he’s obviously been captain a lot longer than Pat has, so I thought he deserved to be the captain of this team.”
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Earlier in the year, Rohit Sharma had captained India to a 2-1 Test series win in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The right-hander scored 242 runs in the four-match series where he also bagged a ton in Nagpur.
“We know what sort of class he holds with the bat,” Ponting said.
“Even his recent form in the last series against Australia was great, scoring that unbelievable hundred on a wicket where everyone else really struggled on.”
Going ahead with his choices, Ponting didn’t hesitate in picking Marnus Labuschagne as the No 3 batter hailing his contributions in recent years.
“Since he came into Test cricket as a concussion sub at Lord’s when Steve Smith got hit by Jofra Archer, he’s hardly put a foot wrong,” Ponting said.
“He’s improved and come on in leaps and bounds to be where he is now, right at the top of the world Test Batting Rankings, so it was pretty hard to go past him.”
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Ponting opted for Virat Kohli and Steve Smith in the middle order. The former Australia skipper said their record in the last decade made them obvious choices.
“Pretty hard to go past the next couple I’ve got in the batting line-up, which are Virat Kohli and Steve Smith,” Ponting said.
“If you talk about great players of the last decade, both of these guys will be right at the top of anyone’s list. Both with exceptional Test records and both make a lot of hundreds.”
“I know it has been a couple of years and been a bit of a lean sort of trot with Virat, but he bounced back to his best in that last series against Australia and thoroughly deserves to be picked in the middle order.”
With one spot left in the middle order, Ponting went for all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja while saying the India player is someone who could “easily hold down a number six or number seven spot”.
“What I’ve seen with Ravi Jadeja the last two or three years in Test cricket is how much his batting has improved, and he can easily hold down a number six or number seven spot,” Ponting said.
Ricky Ponting went with Alex Carey as his wicketkeeper but wasn’t sure of his place in the batting order.
“It could be Carey at six and Jadeja at seven, or vice versa, whichever way the game was sort of going,” Ponting said.
“Alex Carey’s Test career has grown a lot in the last 12 months as well. His wicketkeeping is almost second to none in world cricket at the moment.
“He had an unbelievable series in Australia last summer, and then his keeping in those trying conditions in India in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well was absolutely outstanding.
“He probably didn’t make the runs that we thought he might have got in those spinning conditions in India, but most batsmen didn’t, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt there.”
With bowling options left to choose, excluding Jadeja, Ponting chose Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Mohammed Shami. Starc, in particular, earned high praise from Ponting.
“Mitchell Starc’s last 12 months, I think have probably been some of the best that he’s actually had in Test cricket.
“He’s developed a few more skills, I think his consistency has become a lot better. We know how dangerous he is with the new ball, but his old ball bowling has certainly become better.”
Ponting, part of the Delhi Capitals setup in the IPL, said he went with Shami having seen him perform well for the Gujarat Titans.
“I know we’re picking a Test team here, and Shami’s Test record the last couple of years has been outstanding, but some of his bowling over the last few weeks in the IPL has also been absolutely unbelievable,” Ponting said.
“He’s just about the pick of the new-ball bowlers I think now going around in the IPL. I know we’re switching to a red ball, but I think he thoroughly deserves to be picked in that line-up.”
With one spot to go, Ponting added another spin bowler in the former of Nathan Lyon.
“Nathan Lyon will be the other spinner in the side,” Ponting said.
“I judge spin on what Indian subcontinental batsmen normally talk about when they talk about facing spin bowling, and everyone I’ve spoken to from India or Sri Lanka and those sorts of places rate Nathan Lyon really highly. So he’s going to go in there.”
Ricky Ponting’s combined India-Australia Test XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mohammed Shami
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