Pakistan vs Australia 2018: Ricky Ponting Confused Over Glenn Maxwell's Snub

Updated - 09 Jan 2019, 07:06 PM

Ricky Ponting, Australia, India
Ricky Ponting on India's tour of Australia. Image Courtesy: Getty Images.

Former Australia skipper, Ricky Ponting said he is confused over Glenn Maxwell’s snub from the latest Test squad for Pakistan Tests.

The all-rounder got axed from the 15-man squad that will travel to the UAE to contest in a two-match Test series against Pakistan, commencing in October.

Ricky Ponting bats for Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell, Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting says Glenn Maxwell’s exclusion left him surprised. Image Courtesy: Getty

Ponting is unsure of the message conveyed to Maxwell by the selectors. The 43-year-old also said the selector’s call to exclude Glenn Maxwell from the Australia A squad, which is on tour to India, was also bizarre.

“If I was Maxi I’d be thinking, ‘why didn’t you give me the chance to actually go there (to India) and push my case to get myself into the team?” That’s all a bit bizarre to me. If I was Maxi and I hadn’t been given the chance to play for Australia A, I’d be ropeable,” cricket.com.au quoted Ponting, as saying.

“They didn’t pick him on that Australia A tour. And they’ve said they’ve seen him play enough in those conditions and knew what he could do. But if you think about it now, that must have actually meant they weren’t going to pick him at all. He didn’t even come into calculations for that Test tour. I’m not sure what the message is, but it’s a bit confusing to me,” he added.

Peter Siddle was surprised too

Peter Siddle, Pakistan vs Australia 2018, Glenn Maxwell
Peter Siddle was left surprised over Maxwell’s omission from Test squad. Image Courtesy: Getty

Ponting isn’t the only one who is amazed at the omission of the star player. Australian pacer, Peter Siddle expressed his surprise at not finding Maxwell’s name on the team list. He said the all-rounder was very confident of making it to the squad.

“I was a little bit (surprised). Coming home and being around him yesterday, he was a little bit confident that he was going to be a part of this squad, so he’ll be very disappointed,” Siddle said.

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Glenn Maxwell Ricky Ponting