Ricky Ponting lauds India's win over Australia in the series opener

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting reckons India’s most recent win in Perth in the opening match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy series is the team’s greatest overseas victory.  

"It'll go down, I'm sure, as one of India's greatest-ever Test match wins, and it probably should." India have had some comprehensive and incredible wins overseas, including the Gabba 2021 outcome, which propelled them to a come-from-behind series win. But the former Australia captain had his reasons.

"With the players down that they had... Rohit (Sharma), not there, (Shubman) Gil, not there and (Mohammed) Shami not there... It's an amazing win." India secured a match by 295 runs, after bundling out to a partly score in the first innings.

"After getting bowled out for 150, it was a bit, yeah, a shock win. And they've won by the best part of 300 runs. So it's an incredible turnaround," said Ponting, reflecting on the Test that concluded in four days. 

Ponting tried to evaluate why India held the edge throughout the Test and emphasised the importance of the toss. “Winning the toss was a big advantage. I said that at the time. The record is that the team that won (at the Optus Stadium) batted first. Every time." By the way, Australia won four of the five tests there batting first. 

India’s stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah elected to bat and the team slumped to 150 inside 50 overs. But they showed incredible resilience and claimed seven wickets on the opening day (67/7 at stumps on Day 1), with the supreme pacer scalping four. The captain ran riot and finished the game with eight wickets to his name. He was rightly declared the Player of the Test. 

“Oh, no doubt, Bumrah led the way. The way he bowled at the start of the first innings was incredible. You know, with Shami not being there, he had to stand up and lead the way. And being the captain, he did it. He did it on the field with his leadership, and he did it with the ball in hand.

"Obviously, Virat (Kohli, who scored an unbeaten century) had to do what he did in the second innings and he set the game up along with (Yashasvi) Jaiswal. But I think their whole bowling group stood up late on Day One. The second half of the first day was probably where the game changed."

The Perth win was special for India considering they were coming off a 0-3 drubbing at home against the Black Caps. Ponting suggested that India wouldn’t have faced such humiliation if the tracks in that series were good and is convinced they are a better team overseas than at home. 

"One point I did make, and I think it's really true. I'm not sure how much (this) has been spoken about here, but I think Indian batsmen now play better away from home than they play at home. I think they're better players of fast bowling now than they are of spin bowling. 

And I think that's been proven this (last) week. To be able to go to Perth, have a young kid like Jaiswal make 100 (161) on that wicket, even Nitish Reddy being able to make 40 (41) in the first innings... I think they (India) play better on those wickets than they do on the slow-spinning tracks that they've been getting at home. I mean, there's no way in the world New Zealand would have beaten them on good wickets."

Ponting had predicted a 3-1 BGT series win for Australia. He still stands by the prognosis. "No, I have not changed my view. I'll stay with that. India won the first (Test). I said 3-1 at the start. Yes, I'll stick with it. But it's a long way back. The Aussies have now got a fair bit of work to do."