Ponting tips Australia to beat India 3-1 in Border Gavaskar Trophy 

Former Australian Cricket Skipper Ricky Ponting has tipped the Kangaroos to win the Border Gavaskar Trophy against India later this year by a margin of 3-1. 

He said the hosts will have a “bit of a point to prove” after losing their last two home Test series to the men in blue in 2018/19 and 2020/21. Australia have failed to defeat India in a Test series since 2014/15. 

“It's going to be a competitive series and, as I said, I think Australia's got a bit of a point to prove against India in Australia on the back of what's happened the last two series here," Ponting said on the International Cricket Board Review. "We are also back to five Tests,  the other essential thing about this series. It's only been four Tests the last couple of times. I think everyone's really excited by five tests, and I don't know if there'd be too many drawn games.

"I'm obviously going to tip Australia to win and I'm never going to tip against Australia. There will be a draw somewhere and there will be some bad weather somewhere, so I'm going to say 3-1 to Australia."

Should Steve Smith continue to open the innings for Australia?

Ponting said the World Test Series champions would “pretty much pick itself” but he was uncertain of them sticking with Steven Smith up top. The opener spot is vacant after David Warner’s retirement at the SCG earlier this year. 

"Probably the only one question there might be with Australia again, is if Smith's the right man to be opening the batting. That would be the only query that I can see there. But that was all about obviously bringing Cameron Green back into the side.

"So I'll rephrase it, not whether Smith's the right man to open the batting but whether he thinks it's the right spot for him. Because I think if he doesn't think it's the right spot then they'll make a change and get someone else back up there."

Smith scored only 51 runs in four innings while opening against New Zealand in his last test series in March. His promotion to the top after Warner hung his boots was to also slot in Cameron Green in the XI, which worked well as Green finished as the top scorer on the tour with 238 runs across four innings including an unbeaten career-best 174 in Wellington. 

Despite the small sample size- eight innings as an opener- the numbers aren’t encouraging. Besides a high score of 91 against the Windies at the Gabba this year, he has passed the 30-run mark only once and averages a lowly 28.50.