Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is regarded as one of the best batters of his era whereas Jasprit Bumrah is currently the best fast bowler across all formats. It would have been a fantasy battle if Ponting had faced Bumrah in his era.
The former right-hander said he would have looked to score against Bumrah, especially rotating the strike to unsettle the fast bowler would have been his top priority.
Ricky Ponting said on ICC Review, “I’d charge him every ball, I’d run down the wicket, I’d hit him back over his head.” On a serious note, he added, “That’s very much a joke, but I’d try to be proactive and put pressure back on the bowler. I’d be reacting to the ball, but I’d be trying to score. Like I said, the reason that he’s so good is because he doesn’t let you score.
“The flip side of the best bowlers not letting you score is that the best batsmen don’t allow bowlers to bowl that way. That’s the way I would approach it as well,” the 49-year-old went on to add.
On the other hand, Ponting compared Bumrah with legendary bowlers like Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath for making run-scoring difficult for the batters.
“It’s the build-up of pressure. Curtly Ambrose was the same, Glenn McGrath was the same. Like any of the great fast bowlers, they make scoring difficult. You just don’t score off him [Bumrah]. You don’t get any runs. The best of the best make scoring difficult for batsmen, and then it makes batting uncomfortable,” Ponting said.
“You forget about your instincts as a batsman, when you think about surviving and not scoring runs – that’s when batting becomes really hard,” he concluded.
Bumrah is known to not give an inch to the opposition batters and he has been breathing down the neck of the world-class batters with his accurate bowling. The ace pacer returned with figures of 8-72 in the opening Test against Australia to bag the Player of the Match.
The second Test match between Australia and India, which will be a pink-ball game, will be played at Adelaide Oval from December 6 onwards.
