Australia vs India | Ricky Ponting selects his eleven for Adelaide Test

After India and Australia T20I series ended in a 1-1 draw, the campaign now moves onto the longest format of the game where both the teams will face each other in four Test matches. The first match is scheduled to be held from December 6th at the Adelaide Oval. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting meanwhile has announced his eleven Australian players he would like to play against India in the first Test match.

He has pushed down Usman Khwaja to number three and promoted Aaron Finch to the opening slot in his eleven with Marcus Harris as his partner for the opening slot. He also praised Khawaja for his batting and also the match-saving innings he played against Pakistan in Dubai.

"Suddenly you start to work it out and like he showed in the UAE, he played one of the all-time great rear-guard innings an Australian has ever played. Let's hope it's the making of him, not just for this summer but for the next five or so years. I've been a huge fan of Khawaja's for a long time, probably outspokenly so, a lot of people have been quite critical of him over the years," Ponting said to cricket.com.au.

In the middle order, Ponting has the Marsh brothers, Travis Head, and Tim Paine. But he also said that the team should have the best players and nothing else matters much. 

"Don't worry if they're all left handed or if they're all right handed," he added. "They've got to find guys who are good consistent run-scorers, not just now, but there's an Ashes series not far away and they need to show some faith in who they believe are the right people."

Since the Australian team is missing three players in Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft in the batting order it is expected to have few inexperienced players in the Test series. Smith, Warner and Bancroft were banned for their involvement in the ball-tampering saga.

Ricky Ponting's XI for the first Test: Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Tim Paine (c/wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.