Australia vs India 2018: Cheteshwar Pujara's Innings Could Cost India The Match - Ricky Ponting

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on Thursday questioned Cheteshwar Pujara for his slow run-scoring rate in the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Pujara notched his 17th Test century scoring 106 runs from 319 deliveries. Pujara also partnered well with Indian National Cricket Team skipper Virat Kohli adding 170 runs for the third wicket.

Ponting on Pujara’s slow innings

Meanwhile, India had scored 443 runs in the first innings which almost took two days before declaring the innings half an hour before the end of day two.

“If India go on and win the game, it’ll be a great innings (but) if they haven’t got time to bowl Australia out twice … it could be what actually costs them the game,” Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au. 

Moreover, none of India’s top five batsmen scored at a run rate of over 50. The former Australian batsman applauds Cheteshwar Pujara as he had scored the second hundred in the series. In addition to, he also mentioned that India could not score at a fast pace with Pujara in the middle.

“I think it’s always hard for India to push the run rate along when Pujara’s there. He’s just made another hundred, his second of the series, so he’s playing well and doesn’t really look like getting out. But he just locks himself in this little bubble where scoring doesn’t seem to faze him at all.” Ponting added.

Furthermore, Ricky Ponting said that scoring at two runs per over can make winning Test matches hard on flat decks such as the one at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“They’ve got other guys in their side who are stroke-makers … but if those guys don’t come off, the scoring rate is always going to be hovering around that two runs an over mark, which makes it pretty hard to win Test matches, especially on flat wickets like we might have here,” Ponting further said.

Visitors targeted to exhaust the hosts

However, Ponting also added that the Indians were playing the long game and were aiming to take advantage of exhausted Australian cricketers. Meanwhile, India couldn’t get those runs quickly and almost took six innings to score 400 plus runs before declaring.

“Even (since Pujara’s dismissal), it just seems like they haven’t got a lot of direction about what they’re trying to achieve. It looks like they want to bat long enough to only bat once, but just yet they haven’t got enough runs to do that. Obviously, they’ve talked long and hard about what they want to do; it’s just a bit baffling to us.” Ricky Ponting concluded.

Virat Kohli’s men declared for 443/6 but failed to strike a wicket in the remaining overs of the 2nd Day. Australia reached 8/0 at Stumps, with Aaron Finch and Marcus Harris at the crease.