Pujara has been a thorn in their side: Ricky Ponting on India’s key player against Australia in the WTC Final

With the grand final of the World Test Championship 2021-23 on the horizon, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was quick to point out that despite the England conditions favouring Australia more than India, Pat Cummins’ side will need to be wary of the threat posed by Cheteshwar Pujara.

Ponting spoke about how Pujara is one Indian cricket star who has been hard to keep down for Australia, and he will be hard to stop come the WTC Final despite Cummins’ men holding a psychological advantage.

Talking in an episode of the ICC Review, Ponting said, “The Australian team will be talking about Pujara. Pujara has been a thorn in their side a lot in the past and in Australia. They know they will have to get him early.”

He further talked about what can be the key battles in the upcoming final, adding, “Knowing English conditions, you’d say it’ll be opening batsman vs opening bowler because generally English conditions are new ball bowling conditions. If you bowl well with the new ball, you can do early damage. If you can bat well against the new ball you can set the game up for your team early on.”

 He also dropped in a prediction for the final, stating, “If you look at the conditions at the Oval, they are a lot more similar to what the Australian players are used to in Australia than what the Indian players are used to playing on. From that point of view, I’ll give a slight advantage to Australia.”