He said the hosts will have “a small point to prove” after losing their previous Test series at home to India 2-1 in 2018-19 and 2020-21. Australia have not beaten India in a Test series since 2014-15.
“It’s going to be a competitive series and, like I said, I think Australia have a bit of a point to prove against India in Australia after what happened in the last two series here,” Ponting said. ICC review. “We’re back to five Tests again, which is another big thing in this series. It’s only been four Tests the last couple of times. Five Tests, I think everyone’s happy with that and I don’t know if I’ll have a lot of draws.
“Obviously I’m going to tip Australia to win and I’m not going to tip against Australia. There’s going to be a draw somewhere and there’s going to be bad weather somewhere, so I’m going to say 3-1 to Australia.”
Should Steven Smith continue to open?
“Perhaps one question that could be there about Australia as well, is if Smith is the right man to open the batting. That would be the question I see there. But that was about bringing Cameron Green back into the side. .
“So I’m going to rephrase it, not whether Smith is the right man to open the batting but whether he thinks it’s the right place for him. Because I think if he doesn’t think it’s the right place they’re going to change again. Get somebody else there.”
Although the sample size is small — eight innings as an opener — the numbers aren’t in Smith’s favor. Apart from his 91 against the West Indies at the Gabba this year, he has only passed 30 once and averages 28.50.
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