Ponting predicts Australia to beat India 3-1 in upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Ricky Ponting believes Australia will win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India by a margin of 3-1. The former Australian captain, however, said Pat Cummins and Co. will have a "bit of a point to prove" having lost the previous two home series against India 2-1 - first in 2018-19 and then in 2020-21. 

In fact, Australia haven’t won a Test series against India since 2014-15. The upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be a five-match series and will start from November 22 in Perth. The final Test will be played in Sydney from January 3. 

"It's going to be a competitive series and, as I said, I think Australia's got a bit of a point to prove against India in Australia on the back of what's happened the last two series here," Ponting said on the ICC Review. 

"We are back to five Tests as well, which is the other really important thing about this series. It's only been four Tests the last couple of times. Five tests, I think everyone's really excited by that and I don't know if there'd be too many drawn games.

"I'm obviously going to tip Australia to win and I'm never going to tip against Australia. There will be a draw somewhere and there will be some bad weather somewhere, so I'm going to say 3-1 to Australia."

Ponting also spoke about Steven Smith moving up the order following David Warner’s retirement. As an opener, Smith has scored 171 runs in eight innings at an average of 28.5. However, 91 of those runs came in one innings against West Indies at the Gabba. Apart from that, Smith has crossed the 15-run mark only once as an opener. 

"Probably the only one question there might be with Australia again, is if Smith's the right man to be opening the batting. That would be the only query that I can see there. But that was all about obviously bringing Cameron Green back into the side.

"So I'll rephrase it, not whether Smith's the right man to open the batting but whether he thinks it's the right spot for him. Because I think if he doesn't think it's the right spot then they'll make a change and get someone else back up there."

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