Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting feels that Test match rivalry between India and Pakistan will be the pinnacle of red-ball cricket as the Ashes is for Australia and England. Ponting, who is regarded as one of the greatest captains, has been part of several historic Test matches.
The legendary cricketer talked about the intense rivalry between Australia and England in the Ashes. He relished the extra demands that went with those clashes.
“To be totally honest it’s one that we’ve been starved of, haven’t we looking back at the last 15 or 20 years,” Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
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“As a cricket lover like I am and a cricket observer, any time those sorts of battles come up it’s almost always nice to sit back and watch because everything just goes up a notch, doesn’t it?,” he added.
Apart from Australia vs England, India and Pakistan also shared a big rivalry as some feels it’s the biggest one due to political tensions between two nations. The two teams have not played bilateral cricket since 2012 and face each other only in multi-nation tournaments in recent times. However, when it comes to Test cricket, they haven’t played each other at Test level since they fought out a high-scoring draw in Bengaluru in 2007, with Sourav Ganguly’s 239 making headlines.
There is still an outside chance the two nations could meet again in the final of the ICC World Test Championship next year and Ponting would love to see the rivalry grow even further with the addition of more red-ball cricket.
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Asked how this already great rivalry would be even further strengthened, the Australian suggested Test cricket.
“When I think about rivalries, Australia and England and Ashes cricket is the pinnacle I’ve always thought of for our Test match game,” Ponting noted.
“I’m sure India and Pakistanis will say the same about that and the actual rivalry would be the pinnacle of Test match cricket for those two countries as well,” he added.
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