Perth will suit Oz more than India: Ponting

Perth, December 11 

Australia might have been outwitted in the opening Test but former skipper Ricky Ponting believes the hosts will hold an edge over India in the second Test, which begins here on Friday.  India defeated Australia by 31 runs in the first match to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series for the first time in 70 years. Ponting believes the nature of the new-look Perth pitch will suit the Australians. “I think Perth will definitely suit our guys a lot more than the Indian players, but the Aussies need to bounce back pretty quickly,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.

Ponting said Australia need to find out their shortcomings quickly and learn from them. “They played pretty poorly this week and got within 30 runs. And that’s not saying India played at their absolute best either, but they’re absolutely capable,” he said.

“There are some positives to take from it but they’ve also got to take a good hard look at what they’ve done through this game and make sure they do it a lot better.” 

Ponting said Australia should avoid any knee-jerk reaction and retain the batting order and field the same playing XI in the second Test, despite Aaron Finch’s failure as an opener. The selectors, coach Justin Langer and skipper Tim Paine had backed Finch to open the Australian innings in Adelaide and Ponting feels they shouldn’t change their opinion after just one Test. “Why wouldn’t they do that for this game if that’s their best line-up?” Ponting asked if Finch should bat down the order. “I think that would be really reactionary. When you start moving guys around, it just creates more uncertainty. Finch would potentially train differently next week than he had this week because he’s not opening, Usman has to train differently because he is opening.

“Little things like that would come into their minds. If I was them, I’d be tempted to keep it the same way,” he said. — PTI 

Captain Paine frustrated by DRS reprieves for Rahane, Pujara

 Adelaide: Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has questioned the decision review system, saying it has been “frustrating” to deal with the technology that is “not a perfect system”. Australia endured some frustrating moments during their 31-run loss to India in the first Test when a few decisions went against them after rreviewing the umpires' calls. Umpire Nigel Llong had given Ajinkya Rahane out caught bat-pad for 17 early on Sunday but the decision was overturned on review when replays indicated that the ball had hit the batsman’s front pad outside the line of off stump and missed his bat and gloves. Similarly, Cheteshwar Pujara, who had scored a gritty 123 in the first innings, was adjudged out on eight and 17 to Lyon on Saturday but the dismissals were overturned. Replays found no contact with bat or gloves in his first dismissal and the second one was overruled as ball tracking suggested that the ball would have gone over the wickets. “Look, it’s (DRS) not a perfect system and I haven’t got the answers. It’s just frustrating. I’d imagine it’s frustrating for everyone. But it is what it is,” Paine was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald. — PTI