Recently, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting made a shocking prediction about the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ponting said that the Australian team will beat India 3-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali has mocked Ponting regarding this prophecy of Ponting. He said that the only formula to win against India is not to field many strong players including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Basit reminded Australia of old wounds and said that kangaroos have already started playing ‘mind game’. India have won the last two Test series on Australian soil. Let us tell you that the Indian team is going to play a five-match Test series on Australian soil from November 19 to January 7. For the first time, the two countries will face each other in a five-match Test series. Basit said that Ricky Ponting said that Australia will beat India 3-1 in the Test series. This is a big deal. Australia has already started playing mind games. Indian coaches understand this mind game very well. India won the last two Border-Gavaskar Trophies in Australia. There is not much difference between that time and now. I believe it is difficult for other teams to beat Australia at home but India have beaten Australia in their last two tours. The statement given by Ponting is just a mind game. I know Australians well. Also, Basit taunted that how can Australia beat India?

Australian pitches are not what they used to be:

He went on to say, ‘Australian team will beat India 5-0 at home but who knows how? If India don’t have Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj in bowling and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashwi Jaiswal in batting, I think Australia can win. Taking from Ponting’s statement that he will make a very bouncy pitch. The first Test match is in Perth. The Perth pitch itself is the most dangerous, the rest are just flat pitches. Now the Australian pitch is not the same as before. Do Australia have the guts to build a grassy or bouncy pitch? Will Steve Smith open against India this time?’