WTC Final 2023: Mohammed Siraj (4/108) bowled his best, but India could not stop Australia from amassing 469 runs in the first innings at The Oval, with Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121) scoring centuries.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels India “ let themselves down ” by not brushing fuller in the ongoing World Test Championship final but praised leader Mohammed Siraj for his tenacity, calling him the “ ultimate contender ”.
Mohammed Siraj (4/108) sailed his stylish, but India couldn’t stop Australia from amassing 469 runs in the first innings at The Oval, with Travis Head( 163) and Steve Smith( 121) scoring centuries.
Mohammed Siraj was maybe the only bright spot for India with the ball as he reckoned for Usman Khawaja( zero), Head, Pat Cummins (nine) and Nathan Lyon (nine) to bring up his 50 lattices in Test justice.
“I loved seeing that and he looks like the ultimate contender. perhaps occasionally he gets carried down and goes a little bit over the top, but you need those guys by your side when effects aren’t going well, ” Ponting told the ICC on Thursday.
The right- arm bowler attacked Australia with short pitch deliveries and also showed important- demanded aggression on the field, which impressed Ponting.
“He was the one moment (Thursday) who said I’m going to be the joe that’s going to turn effects around, and what I loved was that his pace didn’t drop at each during the whole innings.
“From the first ball history morning until late this autumn, his pace was swimming around that 86 or 87- afar and hour mark and that says a lot about a great station. ” Ponting feels Indian bowlers should have looked to coliseum fuller lengths rather of bowling short.
“I suppose where they let themselves down was in the first hour history and bowling too short. With the gate conditions, the overhead conditions they had and the brand new Dukes ball, they had to drift fuller and get the ball driven back down the ground, ” he said.
“They demanded to have Australia four or five down at lunch and they only had them two down which was a enough good result (for Australia), ” said Ponting, recalling the first session on the opening day, which so far has been the stylish in terms of backing to fast bowlers.
Without getting into the discussion of whether India should have played Ravichandran Ashwin in the WTC final, Ponting said India’s decision to play four cleft might pay its tips latterly in the game.
“I know the captain wears the mass of it (review), but I know it’s not only his decision. I saw Rahul Dravid and him (Rohit Sharma) out in the middle history morning and they had a long discussion about what they wanted to do at the toss. ” Ponting said.
“If they wanted to drift first I suppose they had to play the four cleft. So far you would say it hasn’t paid off but there’s a long way to go and we presumably shouldn’t be too quick to judge, ” he added. Know More Latest Test Cricket News…
