Pujara, Vijay took match away: Ponting
Bengaluru, Oct. 13: So near yet so far is the adage to be used in Ricky Ponting’s case as he once again fell short of tasting a Test victory in India as captain. After losing both the Tests, Ponting laid the blame on his team’s inability to come good in the second innings of both games.
“We were one wicket away from winning the first Test but I don’t think the bowlers were disappointing at all. We have lost both the Tests because of our second innings batting,” he said.
Ponting also admitted that he had failed with the willow too. “I did not bat well either. As a number three batsman if you get to 60 or 70, you are supposed to score a big one. Tendulkar scored 200 and had I made a double ton, the result would have been different. Three scores in the 70s are not good enough,” Ponting said.
But he felt that the 0-2 result was a bit harsh considering the way Aussies played. “We played well in the majority of the first Test match, pretty well for a majority of this Test too. It goes to show that we need to play good Test cricket on all the five days, not four or four-and-a-half,” he said.
On the final day of the second Test, he said the second wicket stand between Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay sealed the deal for India. “I was hoping that we would get Sehwag early, which we did. The Pujara-Vijay stand did us in. They scored at a run-a-ball and the momentum shifted their way. We knew that the Indians are good players on a fifth-day track and we should have bowled better than what we did today,” Ponting said.
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