Rohit's return a 'disruption'? Ponting sparks debate

'India will be pretty certain of what team they're going to play (in Perth). They've known for a while that Rohit probably wasn't going to be here'

Captain Rohit Sharma linking up with the Indian team in the second Test at Adelaide could be a "potential disruption" for the visitors, reckoned the legendary Ricky Ponting, who on Thursday stood by his prediction of a 3-1 series victory for Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The marquee five-match Test series starts here on Friday. Rohit is on a paternity break and will miss the series-opener. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is captaining the Indian team in his absence.

"I just think there's potential for more disruption through their campaign with Sharma coming back and whatever else. So I'll stick with it (3-1 verdict in favour of Australia)," Ponting said on ICC Review.

"(Marnus) Labuschagne and (Steve) Smith need to make runs for Australia. And their bowling attack obviously is as good as anyone's in the world. So I'll stick with my 3-1 Australia prediction."

The second Test, which is a day-nighter, will start on December 6.

Ponting, the highest-ever run-getter for Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, believes the tourists are otherwise well-settled going into the series despite their recent home series defeat to New Zealand.

"India will be pretty certain of what team they're going to play (in Perth). They've known for a while that Rohit probably wasn't going to be here," Ponting said.

"They've probably known for a while that Bumrah was going to be captain."

"So they've probably known what holes they've needed to fill. So they'll be reasonably settled."

In the past four series between the two teams, India have won on all four occasions, including back-to-back away Test wins in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Going back to the 2020-21 series between the two teams, Ponting recalled how his 2-1 prediction in favour of Australia backfired after he discussed it with Sunil Gavaskar in the aftermath of India's 36 all out in Adelaide, their lowest-ever Test total.

India, though, made a remarkable comeback to win in Melbourne and Brisbane to claim an unprecedented second successive Test series victory in Australia, one of the hardest countries to tour.

"I think I might have said 2-1 at the start," Ponting recalled.

"And then Sunny looked at me and said, 'It will be 2-1, but it will be 2-1 (in favour of) India.' And I thought there was no way in the world that they could bounce back after losing the way they did in Adelaide. But they did."

What made India's triumph even more memorable was that they achieved the feat without several first-choice players, including then captain Virat Kohli, who came back to the country after the Adelaide drubbing for the birth of his daughter.

Ponting hoped his prediction would prove to be correct this time around.

"Sunny got the better of me there. So I hope Ravi doesn't get the better of me this time. So I'm going to stick with the 3-1 Australia," he said.

Speaking about preparation, Ponting believed that the mental side of the game needed to be looked into, especially for a significant series like the one against India.

"Preparation is always a hard one to get right. Because I've seen guys like Travis Head in the past where they've almost had no preparation at all, going into a game and then turn up and play one of the all-time great innings," he explained.

"...with this game, your skills don't ever leave you. They don't go too far away. But as long as you're thinking clearly and thinking the right things, then you can make your body do pretty much whatever you want it to do."