IPL will help the players forget the controversies of the Border-Gavaskar trophy: Ricky Ponting

The recently concluded Border-Gavaskar trophy has been one of the most controversial series in the recent past. The controversies that took place in the series overshadowed the brilliant performances by the players of both the teams.

But former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has said that the Indian Premier League will cool down the tensions between the two cricketing nations quite a lot. Ponting also believes that Steve Smith led the side from the front with brilliant performances with the bat, which would have made all the Australian fans proud.

But the controversies during the series did not go down well with Indian skipper Virat Kohli as the Australian media went as far as to comparing the 28-year-old to controversial U.S President Donald Trump. Kohli due to all the banters during the series, had stated after the same that he does not consider the Australians his friends anymore.

Ponting on the same context quoted cricket.com.au “I know (Kohli) has come out and said that he might not have any friends in Australian cricket anymore, but I’m sure those bridges can be mended over the next couple of months”

“He’s going to be sharing a change room with Shane Watson and a few other Australian players as well.”

The world cup winning captain praised the IPL for bringing players from different countries together as he believes that it helps improve the relation between the countries.

“I think that’s been one of the great things about the IPL. It’s been able to bring players from other countries a lot closer than ever before.”

He brought up the example of Harbhajan Singh and himself as the two cricketers did not share a good relationship in his playing days.

“I ended up coaching a team that had Harbhajan Singh in it and we never got on at all when we were playing against each other. But you find a way.”

“If it’s all about your team having success, you can’t have those niggling things going on.”

“I played a lot of series against India where things got a little bit heated on the field, but pretty much as soon as the series was over and we went back to play IPL or whatever the next series was, that was forgotten about.”