‘I knew Aussies were in for a nightmare’ – Ricky Ponting reveals he knew which player would prove to be dangerous for Australia in first Test
Ricky Ponting (Source: Twitter)
India thumped Australia by a massive margin of an innings and 132 runs in the first Test in Nagpur. Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked up 8 and 7 wickets respectively to help India go 1-0 up in the four-match series. Following India’s win, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that he knew which player would turn out to be a nightmare for Australia one week back.
Australia came fully prepared to face Ravichandran Ashwin as they had roped in Mahesh Pithiya who had a similar action to Ashwin. However, the Pat Cummins-led side were in for a surprise on Day 1 as Jadeja ended up picking a five-wicket haul as Australia got bundled out for 177.
Speaking on the Apex Cricket Body Review, Ponting revealed that he knew that Jadeja would become Australia’s “nightmare” when he had made his first-class return in the last week of January. Jadeja had picked eight wickets, seven of which came in the second innings in Saurashtra’s Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu.
“I had seen his return to first-class cricket last week and he got some 11 wickets or something. As soon as I saw that I knew Aussies were in for a nightmare,” he said.
I think he could very well be the leading wicket-taker in this series: Ricky Ponting
“Because of how he [Jadeja] bowls on those sort of wickets – the pace that he bowls, the line that he bowls to right-handers in particular, where he is pitching the ball on the stumps all the time, and one would turn and one will slide on, like we saw, with the dismissal of Steven Smith today. I mean they’re two identical deliveries. One just happened to turn and the other one went straight on and went back through the gate and bowled him,” added Ponting as he analysed Jadeja‘s performance on Day 1.
The former Australia captain then made a bold prediction for the series on the all-rounder as well.
“As the series goes on, if his body holds up and he can get through the four Test matches, I think he could very well be the leading wicket-taker in this entire series,” he said.
