Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes that the hosts should field an unchanged playing XI for the second Test against India in Perth, despite a 31-run loss in the opening Test at Adelaide on Monday.
Terming any changes as nothing short of an overreaction by the team management, Ponting added that there was also a risk of uncertainty creeping into the minds of the players.
“I’d have to leave it like it is,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
“They decided that it was their strongest line-up going into this week and opinion shouldn’t change on the back of one game,” he added.
The legendary batsman also backed opener Aaron Finch to retain his spot at the top of the order, despite his poor performance in the Adelaide Test.
“I just think that’d be really reactionary. The selectors have made a decision, or whoever is setting the batting order, that they think Aaron Finch is the right guy to be opening the batting for Australia,” said Ponting when quizzed about whether Finch should be handed a role down the order in favour of Usman Khawaja.
“When you start moving guys around, it just creates more uncertainty. Finch would potentially train differently next week than he had this week because he’s not opening (and) Usman has to train differently because he is opening.”
“Little things like that would come into their minds. If I was them, I’d be tempted to keep it the same way,” he concluded.
The two sides will next battle it out in the second Test on December 14 in Perth.
Source: Zee News