Ricky Ponting: Australian can tackle Afridi in Test Matches
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is quite sure that his team can get the better of newly appointed one-day and Test captain of the Pakistan cricket team Shahid Afridi. The right handed batsman has been announced as the skipper for the upcoming Asia Cup to be held in Sri Lanka as well as for the England Tour later in July.
According to the statistics, ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi does not hold a good record against the red hot Australian side in either format of the game. The Pathan has only hit one half century against the last 44 games played against Australia, irrespective of the game’s version. On the other hand, the Pakistan skipper has not played an international test match for the last four years.
Since the start of 2009, Shahid Afridi will be the third one to lead his home side in a Test match. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on the other hand is unmoved.
While discussing the one day matches to be played against Pakistan, Ricky Ponting said that he has a lot of faith in his bowlers, their pace variations along with their attacking style. So, handling the aggressive Afridi and restricting him within the field is not expected to be a problem in the One-Day International matches as well. It seems as if Ponting’s side is completely up for the challenge ahead and is confident of his team’s strength.
While talking to APP, the Australian skipper said that Afridi has been made part of the Test team mostly due to his leadership quality and not because of his ability to stay on the wicket for a longer period of time in a test match. So he is definitely not one of the best test players of the Pakistan side and probably this is the reason why he has not played a test match since long. Hence Ponting and his bowlers are definitely looking forward towards examining him as a Test player in the upcoming series.
During the last year, Afridi’s batting crumbled poorly in the One-Day matches against the Australian pacers during their tour of Australia. So Ponting is quite hopeful that his pacers can handle the aggressive batsmen from the Pakistan side even in the test matches with the same strategy.
But there is no doubt about the fact that Pakistan is a dangerous side against any team as they are so unpredictable. With Shoaib Malik back in the side, the Pakistan team is going to be a tough opposition for sure.
With Afridi’s good performance as a captain in the T20 matches, it was quite evident that he was going to lead the team in the test matches as well. There was no other choice for the PCB as none of the players they tried ended up successfully.
However, it’s more important to see how the Australian side will once again prove to be the best of the rest in the world while playing against Pakistan. Who so ever is playing in the side and whoever is leading the side, it will not affect Australia’s game plan and strategy.
Before the Ashes, the last five-day outings of the Australian team will be their two Tests’ at Lord's and Headingly.
However, at the moment, what is more important for Australia is to focus on the challenge that the Pakistan side will pose in the Tour of England instead of looking too far ahead as said by the Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.
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