A Draw Would Be Nothing Short Of A Defeat For Australia: Ricky Ponting

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has reckoned that a drawn series will be a much worse result for the hosts as compared to the Indian team.

Australia needs ten wickets on the final day of the ongoing Gabba Test to not only win the series but also regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2014/15.

However, India, who needs a further 324 runs to win the Test and the series, only needs to draw the match to retain the coveted trophy. Ponting even went on to say that a drawn series result will be worse than the 2-1 series defeat Australia suffered on home soil in 2018 given the fact that they have had the services of David Warner [for two Tests] and Steve Smith [for the entire series] and India are missing at least 6-7 first-choice cricketers.

“I think a drawn series will be worse than the loss a couple of years ago. That’s the way I look at it, considering how hard India have found it going through 20 players in a series, (Australia) having Warner back for the last couple of games, Smith back for all them that they didn’t have last time around,” Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au.

“A draw would not only feel like a loss to them but be a worse result than last series,” he added.

However, Ricky Ponting has backed the Australian attack to do the job this time around, claiming that India’s much-vaunted resilience will give up at some stage.

“India’s resilience has got to give up at some stage. They can’t keep doing what they’ve been doing, being so resilient, and tomorrow it might be that day,” Ponting said.

“The last day of the series, potentially playing for another draw, I’ve just got a feeling that something’s got to give. And Australia on the other hand, they know they have to go flat out and give everything to win the series,” he added.

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