Australia will have edge going into the series decider in Brisbane: Ricky Ponting

If you ask any Australian player that they have a series decider at home against a good side, where do they play, most of them will take a pause and say, at the Gabba in Brisbane. It is a ground where the home team has not lost a single Test match since 1988. With everything going into the final Test starting later this week in Brisbane, Australia has a slight edge over India. 

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting echoed similar sentiments. In a recent interaction, the Tasmanian said that he feels that the home team will have an advantage of playing at the Gabba, given their record on the ground. He also remarked that the team has a pretty dominant effort in Sydney. 

If Will is OK then they won’t have to make any changes: Ricky Ponting

He also spoke about Will Puvocski’s injury. “Australia will have the edge going to Brisbane. One, (Australia’s Gabba) record and two, if Will’s OK then they won’t have to make any changes and if Will’s not they’ll only have to make one change and they have had a pretty dominant performance in this game,” Ponting said while talking to cricket.com.au. 

The former cricketer further pointed out the injury issues which the Indian team has. “India again is going to have a couple of injury concerns out of this game so they’ve got to find another couple of guys to bring in,” he added.

Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the Gabba Test

With key all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja and Sydney’s hero Hanuma Vihari already being ruled out of the final Test, India also announced that Jasprit Bumrah will be out of action due to an injury. So, India will go into the Gabba Test with Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini and one among T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur.

There is a cloud of uncertainty over Ravichandran Ashwin as well. His wife had mentioned in a social media post that the off-spinner had tremendous pain in the back before he went on to play a historic knock and save the Test match in Sydney. 

But, the fact that the Indian could in fact play out more than 130 overs to draw the Test while chasing 407, will keep the mood up in the dressing room.