No Ashwin, Bumrah; Ponting predicts India’s bowling attack vs AUS

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has predicted the bowling attack of Team India for the first Test against Australia. He has picked three seamers and one spinner and interestingly hasn’t included India’s highest-ranked spin bowler R Ashwin for the Test to be played at Adelaide.

Ponting picks Bhuvneshwar over Ishant and Bumrah

The former Aussie cricketer believes that India’s fast bowling brigade would be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami. He feels it is probably the attack he would go with.

He noted that Shami is a very good reverse swing bowler, while Bhuvneshwar is very good with the brand new ball.

Ishant Sharma, India’s most-experienced pace bowler doesn’t fit in Ponting’s India XI. The former Aussie captain has also left Jasprit Bumrah who has emerged as India’s frontline bowler in a very quick time.

Ponting not sure how many wickets Ashwin would pick

At the same time, Ponting has decided to pick only one spinner and for this slot he has roped in wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Speaking about this decision, he said that if he had to pick the spinner, the he would go with Kuldeep. He explained that he knows what Ashwin can do, he can bowl tight, but he made it clear that he is just not sure how many wickets the off-spinner would pick in these conditions especially starting in Adelaide and going to Perth. So he feels that if he was there, he would pick the leg-spinner as well.

Cricket legend Ricky Ponting selects his Aussie XI – and India bowling attack – for the first Test@GilletteAU | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/9sYAeprEKH

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 27, 2018

Test series to start from December 06

Australia and India will lock horns against each other in a four-match Test series beginning from December 06th. The T20I series between the two teams ended 1-1 as the second match was washed out due to rain.

Also read: England star cricketer signs T10 deal with Knights

India’s squad for the Test series against Australia: Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Rohit Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja, Lokesh Rahul, Parthiv Patel, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav