WTC Final: India’s Test players better off playing IPL than resting, says Ricky Ponting | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: There’s has been general apprehension about India’s preparations for the World Test Championship final at the Oval in London.
Playing a high-stakes one-off Test against Australia barely 10 days after the IPL final isn’t being seen as ideal preparation, but former Australia captain Ricky Ponting says it isn’t a disadvantage for the Indian players. India have 13 players in their WTC final team playing the IPL while Australia have just four.
“There are two ways to look at it. For someone like Virat, is he better off playing and scoring runs on a consistent basis and have confidence going into a game?
The Australian bowlers back home haven’t played much cricket. So, the Indian batting will be immensely prepared with runs under their belt. Shami will be better skillwise than what Pat Cummins is, as the latter hasn’t played any cricket for a few months now,” Ponting said at an ICC event here on Friday.

“What the Australian players have done, though, is that Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are in England and getting used to the conditions, giving themselves the best chance. Michael Neser and Sean Abbott are also there in the extended squad for Australia, so they are playing there and bowling in case there’s an injury to any of Australian fast bowlers. So, I don’t think there’s an advantage either way,” he added.
Ponting, currently coaching the Delhi Capitals, offered a peek into how the players involved in WTC final are gearing up during the IPL. “I’ve had Mitchell Marsh and David Warner at Capitals, Cameron Green is in Mumbai and all the Indian players are obviously here playing. Their training would’ve changed over the last couple of weeks. They’ll be training differently. They won’t be just thinking about the next IPL game they play. Some of the bowlers will be on workload management to make sure they’re ready to play a Test match,” he said.
While the WTC has added context to the sport’s longest format, Ponting believes England’s way of playing Test cricket looks the right way to go about the game and he expects Australia and India to bring out an aggressive brand of cricket in the final.
“Cricket-loving world deserves to see an unbelievably good Test match with a result. We don’t want to have a drawn game. So I’d be saying to both captains, just think about making sure there’s a result at the end. If it means that you got to put yourself with your team on the line to potentially lose the game, to give yourself a chance to win, go and do it.”