“Making pitches like this negating quality of their spinners” - Ricky Ponting on India preferring spin friendly pitches for Tests

Former Ricky Ponting, Australia's captain, has provided a scathing appraisal of India's Test defeat to South Africa in Kolkata, saying that India's policy of preparing extreme turners is now backfiring on their batters. 

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He also remarked that spin-friendly pitches are weakening the quality of their own spinners while making opposing spinners appear good.  

This comes after India failed to chase 124 runs in the first test against South Africa in Kolkata and succumbed to 93 all out as Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj, along with Marco Jansen rattled the famed Indian batting.

“They prepare these wickets so much in favour of spinners that it negates the quality of their spin. “It makes opposition spinners better when they get wickets that turn like that. And in the last five or six years, India don’t play spin as well as they once did. They’re evening it up for everybody else.

Chasing 120 in the last innings, they should’ve been able to get that done. But on pitches like that, one wicket becomes two… pressure builds quickly with fielders around the bat,” Ponting assessed on ICC Review show.

This was India’s fourth loss in last six games in India, with their two wins coming against West Indies, while they suffered a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand last year. 

“Never easy to be a stop-gap captain”- Ricky Ponting on Rishabh Pant captaining India in Guwahati Test

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With Rishabh Pant slated to lead India in the second Test in Guwahati due to Shubman Gill's neck injury, Ponting lent his full support to the wicketkeeper-batsman, claiming that his IPL captaincy experience will prepare him well for the assignment.

Ponting has coached Pant in the Delhi Capitals in the IPL and stated that the keeper-batter had the temperament and awareness to handle the captaincy duties responsibly. 

“It’s never easy to come and fill in for a stop-gap captain, especially when you’ve lost a Test match a few days before. Rishabh is reasonably an experienced Test-match player now and being a wicketkeeper probably helps him see how the game is evolving. He’s done it in the IPL for the last few years… I think he will be fine. It will be interesting to see how he plays as captain and how he manages his style of play as a batter,” Ponting added.

With the series at 1-0 in South Africa's favor, Ponting's message is clear: India's greatest challenge may not be the opponent, but their own circumstances and batting weaknesses.

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