Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has picked his nation’s playing XI for the first Test of the 4-match series against India starting from December 6.
Ponting has backed Aaron Finch to open for Australia in Adelaide. He has however pushed the left-handed batsman Usman Khawaja to No. 3 spot despite his success as an opener against Pakistan in the UAE last month.
“If the coach asked Aaron Finch where he’d rather bat, I’m sure he’d say he’d want to open. Finch is a bit of an anomaly really that the last few years he’s done most of his batting for Victoria in the middle order. Then because they go to the UAE where conditions probably weren’t going to be that new-ball friendly they gave him the chance to open. So he deserves to stay in the team and open.
“He’s had a lot of success around the world opening the batting in T20s and one-day internationals – if he can go in with a similar mindset and not worry too much about opening the batting in a Test match in Australia against the red ball, I’m sure he’ll have some success,” Ponting said in his recent interview.
Ponting also believes Australia should hand a Test cap to Marcus Harris, who has been prolific in four Shield games this season, amassing 437 runs at an astonishing average of 87.
“I remember when he (Harris) first came into the WA (Western Australia) side, speaking to Justin Langer about him and he thought he was potentially an Australian player in the making,” Ponting explained.
“Things didn’t really work out for him in WA (but) he decides to move to Victoria and his last few seasons have been very good. No batsmen have really dominated domestic Sheffield Shield cricket over the last few years but if you look at the numbers and the way he’s performed this year, he deserves his chance to be opening the batting.”
Talking about Khawaja, Ponting said: “I’ve been a huge fan of Khawaja’s for a long time, probably outspokenly so, a lot of people have been quite critical of him over the years.”
“Sometimes there’s guys you just have to stick with, you just have to pick them and give them a go. I know he had a bad run in the subcontinent but so did I, for the first part of my career.
“Suddenly you start to work it out and like he showed in the UAE, he played one of the all-time great rear-guard innings an Australian has ever played. Let’s hope it’s the making of him, not just for this summer but for the next five or so years,” he further opined.
As expected, there were no surprises in Ponting’s bowling line-up as he picked Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood for the Adelaide Test.
Ricky Ponting’s Australia XI for the Adelaide Test:
Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (c/wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
