Home » Cricket Home » News » India vs Australia: Good Chance of a 4-0 Sweep, India Have to Play Rishabh Pant - Ricky Ponting

India vs Australia: Good Chance of a 4-0 Sweep, India Have to Play Rishabh Pant - Ricky Ponting

India could suffer a whitewash in their ongoing Test series against Australia after their stunning eight-wicket defeat in the first Test in Adelaide, according to former Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

  • IANS
  • Updated: December 20, 2020, 8:59 PM IST
India vs Australia: Good Chance of a 4-0 Sweep, India Have to Play Rishabh Pant - Ricky Ponting

India could suffer a whitewash in their ongoing Test series against Australia after their stunning eight-wicket defeat in the first Test in Adelaide, according to former Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

INDIA vs AUSTRALIA FULL COVERAGE | INDIA VS AUSTRALIA FULL SCHEDULE

The second Test starts on December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

"There could be a good chance (of a sweep). Let's hope we do get a result in Melbourne and if we do, I think India are going to find it really hard to bounce back and win a game," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

Visitors Looking at Four Changes in Team for Boxing Day Test - Report

India were blown away for 36 runs in the second innings -- their lowest ever total in Test cricket and the joint fourth lowest score in 2,396 Test matches played over 143 years. They eventually lost the match by eight wickets and Ponting said that with captain Virat Kohli also not available for the rest of the series, there is no one to pick up the visitors' spirits after that bruising defeat.

"With Kohli not being there as well there's almost no-one to pick them back up after a loss like that. They've got to make a couple of changes. Rishabh Pant has to be in that middle order. With Kohli not being there they've got to strengthen their batting, he's got to come in," Ponting said.

"I am sure but there's one thing to make selection changes there's another to lift the spirits back up again and make sure they're mentally right for the next challenge because the Australians are not going to go away now," he added.



Team Rankings

RankTeamPointsRating
1 Australia 3028 116
2 New Zealand 2793 116
3 India 3085 114
4 England 4326 106
5 Sri Lanka 2454 91
FULL Ranking
RankTeamPointsRating
1 England 5405 123
2 India 6102 117
3 New Zealand 3716 116
4 Australia 4344 111
5 South Africa 3345 108
FULL Ranking
RankTeamPointsRating
1 England 6877 275
2 Australia 6481 270
3 India 9966 269
4 Pakistan 6824 262
5 South Africa 5047 252
FULL Ranking