Former Australia skipper praises the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane as India took the honours on day one at the MCG
Ponting expects to see more of 'underused' tactic
Test great Ricky Ponting has praised the captaincy of India skipper Ajinkya Rahane and the "underused" fielding position that brought about three Australian wickets on day one of the Boxing Day Test.
Filling in for absent full-time captain Virat Kohli, Rahane employed a leg slip for his seam and spin bowlers on a sporting MCG wicket and watched on as Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Tim Paine all fell into the trap.
Smith and Paine were caught at leg slip from the bowling of ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin while Labuschagne flicked a full ball on his pads from debutant quick Mohammed Siraj to fellow debutant Shubman Gill.
It's a tactic that England tried to – and was welcomed by – Smith during the 2019 Ashes, which did work eventually, but not until the right-hander had scored three centuries among a mountain of runs.
The fielding position has been used against former Australia opener Cameron Bancroft to great success in the Marsh Sheffield Shield and was used at the MCG last time India toured two years ago, when Pat Cummins had Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli caught by a close-in fielder behind square on the leg side in quick succession.
Given its impact, Ponting expects to see a leg slip installed more this summer.
"The amount of catches you see now off the fast bowlers at leg gully is astounding," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"The last three or four years, whether it's in Australia or (wherever) it is, we've had a lot of our players caught there and even thinking back two years ago to the MCG, Pat Cummins got a few of the Indian guys caught in the leg gully area as well.
"It's becoming more of a tactic in the game.
"What happens when a fast bowler pushes one down the leg side, the tendency for right-handers is to just fall over a little bit. If you're falling to the off-side to try and keep the ball down on the leg-side becomes that little bit more difficult.
"As this game goes on, I reckon we'll see even the Australians have a leg gully in there for a lot of the time, particularly against the right-handers."
The unique fielding position was just one of the many smart moves made by Rahane that impressed Ponting, Australia's most capped international skipper.
Along with the astute field placings, the bowling plans were carried out by a well-drilled bowling unit that dismissed the hosts for 195 inside 73 overs.
Ponting says a lot of India's success should go down to their new captain.
"(Rahane's captaincy) has been brilliant so far," Ponting said.
"We were all a bit worried about how they were going to pick themselves up after Adelaide.
"I think they looked potentially better today (under Rahane’s leadership).
"Rahane's field placements, bowling changes have all been pretty much spot on.
"With captaincy, making bowling changes and changing the field, you need guys to be able to execute well.
"Some of the wickets they got today, even Smith at leg slip early on, I think that was a set plan.
"Joe Burns' dismissal would have been exactly how they wanted it.
"Cam Green was set up today as well – Siraj bowled some really good outswingers to him then bowled an inswinger back down the line that trapped him in front.
"I think there's been a lot of planning that's gone into it and Rahane should take a lot of credit for that.
"We had him at Delhi this year (in the IPL). He's a very smart cricketer, he's a terrific bloke, works exceptionally hard on his own game but it just seems today the Indian boys have got right in behind him and they're working for each other which is always good to see."
Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21
Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner
India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT
Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT
Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT