Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has opened up on various aspects of the upcoming Border Gavaskar trophy between India and Australia. For the first time since the 1991-92 season, the two teams will face each other in a five-match Test series and Ponting reckons Pat Cummins and his men will trump Rohit Sharma's troops 3-1 in the series.
Moreover, Ponting has also given his inputs on the Indian squad that might travel down under later this year. According to him, Delhi Capitals' fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed might end up making it to India's squad for the Australia tour. The left-arm seamer picked up 17 wickets in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Notably, Ponting has watched Khaleel from close quarters over the last few years as he has been the head coach of the Delhi franchise in the IPL since 2018.
"Someone like Khaleel Ahmed I think could find himself on the Test tour. I know he's just been over in Zimbabwe recently and played that (T20I) series over there, but a left-armer would be ideal for them to have in their touring squad. (Mohammed) Shami will be back fit by then, (Mohammed) Siraj we know will be thereabouts somewhere and obviously, Bumrah is going nowhere. So both teams are going to line up really, really strongly," Ponting said while speaking on ICC Review with Sanjana Ganesan.
For the unversed, Khaleel Ahmed was part of India's squad for Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka tours and played four out of eight T20Is. He picked up a total of three wickets and looked in good form. Having said that, there have been reports of Arshdeep Singh getting a nod as the left-arm pacer for the Australia tour.
Team India is scheduled to play two Tests against Bangladesh and three Tests against New Zealand at home before embarking on the Australia tour. The selectors might try Arshdeep and Khaleel both if they are in the plans for the massive series coming up that might eventually decide their position in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table.
