Sydney [Australia], January 6 (ANI): Ricky Ponting believes the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has set a high standard for the Ashes to live up to when Australia hosts the series next summer.
Speaking on a special episode of The ICC Review following Australia’s 3-1 series victory, Ponting highlighted the exceptional quality of cricket and the impressive fan turnout during the Australian summer, suggesting the historic Ashes rivalry faces a challenge to maintain its prestige.
“I had a look at the numbers yesterday, it was something like 837,000 people came to watch the Test matches, which is unheard of here in Australia,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
“So now that this series has happened, Australia have England coming out next summer so we’ll get a better idea then. If the numbers aren’t the same, then there’ll be no doubt that the (Border-Gavaskar) rivalry (is bigger), certainly from the fans’ point of view,” he said, as quoted by ICC.
“There’s two separate parts to this: There’s what the fans want to see and the rivalry that they want to make of it, but it’s also how the players view the rivalry between the three teams now,” he remarked.
“Perth only went four days, Adelaide only went three days, Sydney only went three days,” Ponting said, as quoted by the ICC.
“Those numbers would have been astronomical if those Test matches all went five days,” he said.
“So exactly this time next year, we’ll have a great idea of the biggest rivalry in world cricket,” he added.
Coming to the SCG Test, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India was off to a disappointing start yet again as the top order threw away their wickets, especially Virat Kohli (17) who continued his struggles with outside off-stump deliveries.
However, the fight by Pant (40 in 98 balls, with three fours and a six), Ravindra Jadeja (26 in 95 balls, with three fours) and skipper Jasprit Bumrah (22 in 17 balls, with three fours and a six) pushed India to 185/10 in 72.2 overs.
Boland (4/31) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies and once again a thorn in the eyes of Indian batters. Mitchell Starc took 3/49 while Pat Cummins got 2/37.
In their first innings, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals even when Jasprit Bumrah (2/33) walked off the field due to an injury scare. Under the stand-in skipper Virat, India continued to dominate the Aussies, skittling them out for just 181 runs and taking a four-run lead. Debutant Beau Webster (57 in 105 balls, with five fours) had a fine showing with the bat and Steve Smith (33 in 57 balls, with four boundaries and a six) showed some attacking intent.
Prasidh Krishna (3/42) and Mohammed Siraj (3/51) were the top bowlers for India.
With a lead of four runs, India was off to a promising start thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal (22 in 35 balls, with four boundaries) and KL Rahul (13) as they put on a 45-run stand. But Boland (6/45) troubled the Indian batting once again. Pant did put up a counter-attack with 61 in 33 balls (six fours and four sixes), but India were bundled out for 157 runs, setting up 162 for the Aussies to win. Bumrah could not bowl in the final innings.
Australia was in trouble for a while duringa chase of 162 runs at 58/3, but knocks from Usman Khawaja (41 in 45 balls, with four boundaries), Travis Head (34* in 38 balls, with four boundaries) and Webster (39* in 34 balls, with six fours) guided the team to a six-wicket win, despite fight put up by Prasidh Krishna (3/65).
Boland was the ‘Player of the Match’ for his ten-wicket haul while Bumrah walked away with the ‘Player of the Series’ award with 32 wickets. (ANI)
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