"Must have been something that was decided a long way out" - Ricky Ponting defends resting of star players for AUS vs PAK 2024 3rd ODI
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has defended the management's move to rest star players from the recent third ODI of the series against Pakistan. Ponting reckons it was the right move, especially for the pace battery as they have to get through five Tests over the summer in a short span.
With the 50-over series against Pakistan locked at 1-1, Australia rested their star players including Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. With plenty of inexperience in the side, the world champions suffered a historic defeat.
Speaking on the latest episode of the ICC Review, the Tasmanian said he believes the plan to rest them was already in place. He reckons Australia might not have a healthier set of players had they played all three ODIs.
"Looking back at it, it must have been something that was decided a long way out because with a series being 1-1, Australian cricket teams don't like losing. The thing that the public probably found most frustrating was how big that gap was between the third one-dayer and the first Test."
"But the other side to look at it is that these boys have now got to get through five straight Test matches in quite a short, compressed amount of time. And certainly, for the fast bowlers, that's never an easy thing to do. So I'm sure the plan was to give those guys that break ensures them of getting through to the end of the Test series a little bit fresher and healthier than they might have been if they had to travel to Perth and play that one-day game," he added.
Meanwhile, former Australian captain Michael Clarke condemned the resting of players, claiming that the board hardly cares about ODIs. With Cummins attending a Coldplay concert amid the third ODI against Pakistan, it copped even more backlash.
"We saw last time that India were here, they were battling more than Australia" - Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting also suggested that the ODI series loss to Pakistan will motivate Australia a lot more to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ponting added:
"We saw last time that India were here, they were battling more than Australia. They had all sorts of injuries on the way through and still found a way to get up and win. They [Australia] lost that [ODIs vs Pakistan] series, the first time they lost a series to Pakistan in Australia for 22 years."
"And now they've got to turn up ready to play that first Test match and look to find ways to win the series," he added.
The first Test between Australia and India begins on November 22 in Perth.