Ricky Ponting shares India’s chances of winning WTC 2023 final after early batting setbacks

The stage was set at the Oval on 7 June 2023 where India locked horns with Australia in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final. After winning the toss, Rohit Sharma asked the Aussies to bat first. However, the decision became quite costly for them as India managed only three wickets on day one and finally, they got bundled out for 469 runs on day two. 

In reply, India’s batters had a horrible start as they lost two openers for just 30 runs in 6.4 overs. Seeing that horrible start to their batting, the former Aussie skipper, Ricky Ponting said that the Men in Blue have no chance of winning this final anymore from this situation. While speaking on Star Sports, Ponting said: ” India cannot win WTC FINAL from here.”

Ricky Ponting was not happy as Team India dropped Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI in the final

Before this final, Ponting said Australia was slight favourites going into this clash as the conditions are most similar to Australia. He even claimed that most of the Indian players were coming off after a long IPL season. Hence, fatigue could play a role. India also shocked everyone by dropping Ravichandran Ashwin from the final playing XI. Regarding that, Ponting said that it might cost the Men in Blue as the game would progress.

While speaking to the Apex Council of Cricket, he said: “So far for me, it looks like it was a mistake from them by playing the four seamers, but we will see how the game pans out. As this game goes on, I have got no doubt that there is going to be turn. Australia have got a lot of left-handers in their batting line-up to which Ashwin would have been perfectly suited for. I feel like Rohit Sharma was caught into thinking that we’re going to play the day rather than playing the Test match.” India’s top-order batters were absolutely clueless against Australia’s seamers as they lost four wickets for 71 runs.