• Home
  • Who Said What
  • Rohits Return To Cause Disruptions Ponting Attempts To Create Rift In Indian Dressing Room

'Rohit's Return To Cause Disruptions'- Ponting Attempts To Create Rift In Indian Dressing Room 

Muskaan Bhatt

Ricky Ponting on Rohit Sharma (Source: @SPORTYVISHAL,@CricCrazyJohn/X.com)Ricky Ponting on Rohit Sharma (Source: @SPORTYVISHAL,@CricCrazyJohn/X.com)

Story continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Right before the mega-clash between India and Australia, Ricky Ponting stuck with his 3-1 verdict in favour of Australia and also exclaimed that Rohit Sharma's return to the campaign before the Adelaide Test would cause disruptions for the Indian side.

Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma who recently welcomed his new-born son, is on a paternity leave owing to which Jasprit Bumrah will be the stand-in captain and will lead the team for the first Test in Perth. However, the Aussie legend feels that when he returns to team it would cause a lot of troubles to India's campaign. Appearing on ICC Review, he said:

Ponting Makes A Bold 3-1 Prediction

"I just think there's potential for more disruption through their campaign with Sharma coming back and whatever else. So I'll stick with it (3-1 verdict in favour of Australia)."

He also showed a lot of faith in Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith and said that they must make runs for Australia as he stood by his prediction of a 3-1 series victory for Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

"Marnus Labuschagne and (Steve) Smith need to make runs for Australia. And their bowling attack obviously is as good as anyone's in the world. So I'll stick with my 3-1 Australia prediction," he said.

Ponting, who was the highest-ever run-getter for Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, believes the visitors are well-settled going into the series despite their recent home series defeat to New Zealand.

"India will be pretty certain of what team they're going to play (in Perth). They've known for a while that Rohit probably wasn't going to be here. They've probably known for a while that Bumrah was going to be captain. So they've probably known what holes they've needed to fill. So they'll be reasonably settled," he added further.

Jasprit Bumrah reacts to India's Whitewash At Home

Meanwhile, Bumrah also addressed the press conference before the high-octane clash begins and talked about the elephant in the room i.e. India's embarrassing defeat to the Kiwis earlier this month. 

He emphasized that his team is not burdened by the 0-3 home defeat to New Zealand as they focus on the upcoming challenging Test series against fierce rivals Australia. He also said that the Indian players are fully prepared and determined to perform at their best in the new series.