ICC World Cup 2019: Wobbly Batting Order a Worry for Australia Against India - Ricky Ponting

Australia Cricket Team have begun their ICC World Cup 2019 campaign in style winning two consecutive matches against Afghanistan and Windies. However, they were put under pressure by the Windies bowlers picking their top five wickets early in the innings before contributions from Steve Smith and Nathan Coulter-Nile helped them post 288 runs before defending it. Former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting feels it is a wake-up call for the whole team before they clash against the top-notch teams.

Wake-up call for Australia: Ponting

The Caribbean fast bowlers used the short-pitch deliveries to great effect to test the Aussie batters. Aaron Finch, who looked in good touch leading to the World Cup, has struggled to put runs on the board along with Usman Khawaja. David Warner and Steve Smith, on the other hand, have scored runs but needs to be consistent alongside Marcus Stoinis, who is in the team as an all-rounder.

Also read: Why ICC’s Decision On MS Dhoni’s Insignia Gloves Shows Their Double Standards

Indian pacers will pose tougher challenges against Australia, and their assistant coach Ricky Ponting admits that their wobbly batting order is a sign of worry when they play the Men in Blues on June 9 at the Kennington Oval in London. The two-time World Cup-winning skipper also said that the last match was a wake-up call for the whole team in this long tournament.

“It could very well be a wake-up call. Just understanding that if you are under pressure in big games like World Cup games, finding a mechanism or a way to get through (is important),” said Ponting to cricket.comau. “It could be just a good learning curve for those guys at the top and hopefully they’ll bounce back strong,” he added.

Also read: ICC World Cup 2019: Match 14, India vs Australia – India’s Predicted Playing XI

Furthermore, Ricky Ponting also said that India might field three pacers for the game against Australia. Notably, the Men in Blues played two fast bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first XI and also has the luxury to play Mohammed Shami, who was in outstanding form leading to the World Cup.

“Do they maybe go with only the one spinner and use (off-spinning allrounder) Kedar Jadav as a second spinner and play another fast bowler? We’ll worry about that in the next couple of days and make sure all the boys are prepared,” he concluded.