'...going back to start of Virat Kohli's captaincy': Ricky Ponting on India's 'strong leadership' as AUS tour looms
Ricky Ponting said that India seem to be less fearful of the big stage and that strong leadership in the last few years has turned things around for them.
India are set to end their cricketing calendar year with a five-match Test tour of Australia. While Indian fans had to historically prepare themselves for seeing defeats whenever the team embarked on a tour Down Under, circumstances have changed quite drastically in the last 10 years. In 2018/19, India beat an Australian team still reeling from the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, thus becoming the first Asian team to beat them in a Test series in their home conditions.
Then, India repeated the feat in their next tour in 2020/21, despite them suffering all manners of injuries and absences and Australia having seemingly bounced back. This, coupled with the fact that Australia, like all other teams around the world, haven't come close to winning a Test series in India, has meant that the Baggy Greens haven't won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2014/15.
Former Australia captain and batting great Ricky Ponting, who knows a thing or two about facing India in all formats of the game, said that Indian batters have become adept at adapting to overseas batting conditions. "They won a game at the Gabba, which just doesn't happen. I think their batsmen adapt to overseas batting conditions very well. I don't think they're as daunted by the Gabba or the Optus Oval, as they maybe once were. Maybe it is a selection thing, or they just don't fear the big stage anymore," said Ponting on Sky Sports.
The IPL effect
Ponting has been active in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the past decade, particularly in recent years as head coach of the Delhi Capitals. He said that playing in the high-pressure matches of the league has made younger Indian players less fearful of the big stage.
"For the last 10 years being around the IPL, I've noticed that a lot of the young guys [don't fear the big stage anymore] as the IPL is high-pressure, it is like a World Cup for them. Their batsmen are all very aggressive stroke-making players. They are not scared of failing," he added.
Additionally, India are also enjoying a golden period of sorts with regards to fast bowling riches. Traditionally a country known to produce spinners, the last 15 years has seen pacers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and so on take the centre stage, a far cry from the fear that India would have no serious fast bowling talent after the retirement of Zaheer Khan in 2015.
Virat Kohli, who was captain of the Test team between 2014 and 2022, had made it a priority along with head coach Ravi Shastri to get fast bowlers and Ponting said that this strong leadership has also turned things around for India as a travelling side.
"Their fast-bowling depth is great. The leadership in the last 6-7 years has been strong, going back to Kohli's start of captaincy, played a big role in turning the cricket around and Dravid has continued the same in the recent four years. The influence of someone like that [Kohli] around a team would be great and they've got star players," said Ponting.
