Bengaluru: Ricky Ponting is now putting all his hopes on the Ashes series to revive his fortunes. Two defeats against India and one by Pakistan have put him under pressure. Never before has Australia lost three Tests in a row.
“It is interesting to see how we bounce back, now that we have lost three Tests in a row; we lost the last one against Pakistan. I don’t think it has happened since I have been the captain,” he said.
“There are some issues that we need to deal with and we have to get over them quickly,” he added while not willing to elaborate on the issues.
However he is confident that Australia will be a different team in Australian conditions with the first Test set to begin on November 23. “Australian conditions will be totally different from here. Our team is generally suited more to the Australian conditions than here. That makes some of our stand-out personal performances that much better, because we have served it up against the No.1 Test team nine out of the ten days,” he said.
When asked whether he was planning to bring about any changes to the team, the skipper answered: “I don’t think there are too many gaping holes in our team. All we can do is to perform well, and personally for me to score as much runs as possible. We have to take opportunities that come our way and not let them slip like in Mohali.”
Ponting admitted that losing a series to India, especially in India is a worrying factor. “We have lost so many series in India and I have got four in a row. We come here and try different things but don’t get the result we want.”
On their Vice-captain Michael Clarke's poor form, he said: “Even I have had a rough time earlier. No need to worry about Clarke, he is a world class player. The fact that he has moved up the order doesn’t have to do anything with the way he has scored or not scored runs. I am sure when the Ashes comes around, you will see him in good touch.”
Ponting expressed his disappointment over Nathan Hauritz. “Nathan has been disappointing with the way he bowled in this game. I think the Indians also handled the spinners very well. As a captain, all I can do is to give him the right advice to make him a better player.”
