Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed his team’s decision to rest key players in the third and final ODI against Pakistan ahead of the crucial Test series against India. Australia were tied 1-1 in the three-match ODI series before losing the series decider by eight wickets in the absence of Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. It was Australia’s first series loss to Pakistan on home soil in 22 years. Ponting acknowledged the importance of keeping Test players fresh for the all-important five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting on November 22 in Perth.
“Looking back at it, it must have been something that was decided a long way out because with a series being 1-1, Australian cricket teams don’t like losing,” said Ponting on the ICC Review.
“The Australian public doesn’t like to see their team lose, and I think that’s been highlighted over the last few days.”
Prior to this series win, Pakistan’s last ODI series triumph on Australian soil came in 2002. Since then, they played 10 ODIs across two tours (2009/10 & 2016/17) and won just once.
Given the long interval between the final ODI and the start of the Test series, questions were raised about the decision to rest key players.
“The thing that the public probably found most frustrating was how big that gap was between the third one-dayer and the first Test,” said Ponting.
“But the other side to look at it is that these boys have now got to get through five straight Test matches in quite a short, compressed amount of time,” said Ponting. “And certainly, for the fast bowlers, that’s never an easy thing to do.
“So I’m sure the plan was to give those guys that break ensures them of getting through to the end of the Test series a little bit fresher and healthier than they might have been if they had to travel to Perth and play that one-day game.”
Ponting noted that rest alone might not be enough to address the physical and mental toll of a lengthy Test series. He cited India’s previous tour of Australia as an example, where they battled through numerous injuries to claim victory in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“We saw last time that India were here, they were battling more than Australia,” he said. “They had all sorts of injuries on the way through and still found a way to get up and win.
“They (Australia) lost that (ODIs vs Pakistan) series, the first time they lost a series to Pakistan in Australia for 22 years. And now they’ve got to turn up ready to play that first Test match and look to find ways to win the series.”
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