Joe Burns, the Australian opener might have scored just eight runs in the first innings of the first Test against India, but former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has backed the opener to play the second Test of the series as well.
Joe Burns was dismissed by Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the first innings after the opening batsman managed to score just eight runs off 41 balls in 1st innings.
Ricky Ponting: Players Are Going To Have Ups And Downs
Joe Burns had come into this Test match with a lean patch as he scored only 5 runs in four innings in the two practice games against the Indians as well.
“This team (Australia) is the number one ranked team in the world. When you are that, you’re going to carry players at different times. Players are going to have ups and downs but they’ve been on a good run, they’ve won a lot of games, a lot of series. I don’t always see the need for change. Let’s wait and see what happens in the end,” cricket.com.au quoted Ricky Ponting as saying.
“I think the picture will be a lot clearer for all of us at the end of this Test match, what they might need for Melbourne and if someone in the current team needs to go out we’ll know then but there’s still a long way to go in the game,” he added.
Joe Burns managed only 5 runs in two warm-up matches against India but was selected as Will Pucovski and David Warner were injured. After scoring 135 against Victoria and 93 against West Australia for Queensland in Sheffield Shield, he did not cross 30 runs in next 11 innings.
Joe Burns Will Improve If He Stays Longer At Crease: Ricky Ponting
However, on seeing how Joe Burns batted in the first innings where he was clearly struggling for runs, Ricky Ponting admitted that is clear that the Australian opening batsman was clearly unable to cope against the Indian pace attack, comprising of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav.
“You can see that he’s battling. His balance didn’t look quite right. He’s playing around his front pad a lot as probably highlighted by his dismissal. I was on air at the time he got out and I just kept saying the longer he stays there it’s going to change, he’ll get a couple in the middle, and all of a sudden it’s a different game, and as soon as I said that he was out next ball,” said Ricky Ponting.
“You can see that he’s just fighting himself a little bit. Normally with Joe Burns, he might not be the prettiest player but he’s normally putting pressure back on the bowlers and looking to be aggressive and I think they bowled well to him today but probably not quite enough intent from Burns,” he added.
India bundled Australia out on 191 in the first innings of the first Test after Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah’s heroics with the ball.
The visitors were 9/1 in the second essay when the umpires ended play on the second night but could manage 36/9 after a dramatic collapse where for the first time in Tests no batsmen could register double-digit runs. India registered their lowest ever Test score and set Australia 90 runs target. Australia are 15 for no loss at dinner break.