Ponting sees Green shoots of an exciting T20 career

Cameron Green's patient and powerful second innings in Sydney has former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believing the youngster could be an all-format player for his country.

Green's 84 was an innings of two parts; his first 47 runs came from 115 balls before he exploded after reaching his maiden Test half-century, with his last 37 runs coming in just 17 deliveries.

The towering right-hander used his long levers to great effect to pump two huge sixes down the ground before he swatted star India quick Jasprit Bumrah for six more over mid-wicket from his penultimate ball.

He was out caught behind the following delivery trying to send another Bumrah ball into the stands to end another impressive innings in his fledgling Test career.

The 22-year-old has a modest limited-overs record in domestic cricket, but he did make his ODI debut in December against India at Manuka Oval, where he scored 21 and bowled four wicketless overs.

The mix of focused defensive discipline and the ability to clear the rope, along with his athleticism in the field and skills as a fast bowler, makes him a promising three-format player, says Ponting.

"That will be the next phase of his development, the white-ball stuff," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"I think he's going to be a very attractive T20 package in the future as well with that sheer power that he's got.

"He's good in the field and his bowling could be quite handy, so there's no reason why he couldn't end up being a good all-format player."

Speaking to cricket.com.au after play, Green acknowledged that he's yet to show his best in white-ball cricket at domestic level, but has aspirations to thrive in all three formats.

"Of course you would love to do that," he said.

"I've really only performed in Shield cricket so that might take me a few years, but you can always dream to do that."

Green's immediate focus is the Vodafone Test series and helping his side win the third Test at the SCG.

His stay at the crease on Sunday began after the loss of two quick wickets at 4-148 with Australia holding a lead of 242.

He dug in early to combine for 60 with Steve Smith and then 104 with captain Tim Paine as Australia set India 407 to win in four sessions.

It was a knock that followed scores of 11, 12, 45 and 0 and although Green is a long-term player, putting a score on the board would have settled the youngster, Ponting says.

"He played really well in a pretty challenging time for him to bat as well," he said.

"It's the sort of time when you got out to bat in a Test match when you don't feel like you've got much to gain.

"They made it really hard for him to score early on, he did a good job to get through some full, straight bowling that they bowled early on.

"They had that heavy on-side field again trying to target his front pad, but I thought he played really nicely.

"We saw some nice straight and off driving and then at the end we saw what power he's got as well.

"Brilliant for him, really happy for him. Even though there's not talk about his spot in the team (being in danger), you know within yourself that (after) just a couple of low scores you want to go out there and do a good job for the team.

"He'd be rapt to walk away with that innings that he played today."

Now that Green is in the Test XI for the foreseeable future, Ponting says his role now is to act as a sponge around his senior teammates and soak up what they know to take his game to a higher level.

"Just continuing to learn about yourself, and the situation and your game and understanding how teams are going to bowl to you and what you have to do to combat what they're doing – that's the next step," Ponting said.

"He looks like he's well enough equipped, playing off both front foot and back foot.

"I still think he'll have teams look to attack his stumps really early on in his innings, get full and straight and try to get him lbw, which is what India certainly have been trying to do.

"It's a just a continual learning curve. Every day around the Australian team he'll learn from someone, whether it's Smith or (Marnus) Labuschagne or Paine or (David) Warner, whoever it might be.

"He'll learn from those guys, but he'll learn out in the heat of the battle as well. And when he's out there facing some of the world's best bowlers, he'll learn pretty quickly."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, 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: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Thangarasu Natarajan

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT