Ricky Ponting Advises India to go Abrupt, Asks to Field both Gill and Rahul
Rahul failed in the first two Tests whereas Gill misfired in the third (Twitter)
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has advised the Indian cricket team to consider the prospect of fielding both Shubman Gill and KL Rahul in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The legendary cricketer’s counsel comes at a time when Rahul, who opened in the first two matches, failed to provide a solid start, while Gill was unable to convert his promising innings into a substantial score in the third Test against Australia.
As India is striving to secure a spot in the World Test Championship final, Ponting recommended that Gill open the innings while Rahul could shift to the middle order in the upcoming Ahmedabad Test.
"With someone like KL Rahul having gone out of this side and Shubman Gill having come in, both these guys have played a bit of Test match cricket and you could potentially have both of those guys in the same team," Ponting said on ICC review.
Ponting further acknowledged that the Lucknow Super Giants skipper has previously played cricket in English conditions, albeit at the top of the order, and could adjust to the requirements of the middle order in the team.
Australia made a stunning comeback in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and clinched the third Test against India by nine wickets to reserve their berth in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. With the fourth Test scheduled to commence on March 9 in Ahmedabad, Australia will aim to level the series at 1-2, while India will aspire to advance to the WTC final.
Ponting also emphasized that both India and Australia must select their most adept playing XIs who can adapt to the English conditions.
Furthermore, the erstwhile batter noted that the Oval could be an excellent place to bat as long as the sun is out, and it is one of the best pitches in the UK. Consequently, he encouraged India to assess the conditions and choose their team accordingly, disregarding the previous series played under the extreme conditions prevalent in India.
The Aussie great opined that both India and Australia, if pitted against each other, would analyze the conditions and select the team that they consider to be the most capable of winning the one-off game.