Ricky Ponting seeking answers to Australia’s short-ball woes

London: Australia’s assistant coach Ricky Ponting said that the top-order’s vulnerability against the short ball will need to be addressed before their crucial match against India on Sunday.

“You’ve got to find a way to cope and a way to get through hostile spells knowing that it’s not going to last forever,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Brought in by his former teammate and Australia coach Justin Langer to help the batsmen at the World Cup, Ponting reckons that India could bring in Mohammed Shami at the expense of either Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal, who took a combined five wickets against South Africa. “Bumrah we know is a very good new ball bowler and I’m sure he’ll mix it up and bowl some short stuff and some full stuff,” said Ponting.

“Bhuvneshwar will probably not worry you too much with his pace or his bouncers. Hardik can maybe rush you a little bit, so maybe they have a decision to make on the overall make up of their side.

“Do they maybe go with only the one spinner and use (off-spinning all-rounder) Kedhav Jadav as a second spinner and play another fast bowler?

“We’ll worry about that in the next couple of days and make sure all the boys are prepared.”

The former Australian captain said that he will be seeking answers from the likes of Usman Khawaja and Glenn Maxwell after their dismissals led to Australia slumping to 38/4 in their previous match against West Indies. It was only a sensational fightback led by Steve Smith and Nathan Coulter-Nile that bailed them out and their bowlers did the rest to secure a remarkable 15-run win. IANS

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