IND vs AUS | India have got lot more questions to answer than Australia, opines Ricky Ponting 

With Virat Kohli missing from the last three Tests, there will be a lot of pressure on other Indian batsmen to step up. Not only his leadership will also be missed as Kohli has done fairly well in the longer version as captain than other formats of the game. Former Australian skipper and Delhi Capitals' head coach Ricky Ponting feels that people conveniently forget that Smith and Warner were missing last time and only talk how good India were when they won the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2-1 in 2018/19 Down Under.

Ponting reckons that Kohli's absence will leave India in a spot of bother as it would ultimately put more pressure on Ajinkya Rahane, who's likely to overtake captaincy after first Test and also the Asian team will need to find Kohli's replacement after the first game. 

“The one thing we haven’t spoken enough about is yes India were really good here last time, but with those guys (Smith and Warner) missing at the top of the order, that leaves a big gap in any team,” Ponting was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.

“India will feel that without Kohli there (for three Tests), for his batting and leadership, that’ll put all sorts of pressure on different players. You’d think (Ajinkya) Rahane will take over the captaincy, which will put extra pressure on him, and they’ve got to find someone to bat at that really important No.4 spot,” he added.

“I don’t think they’ll be clear in their own mind, even now, what their batting order will look like for the first Test. Who’s going to open, who’ll bat at four when Kohli goes?,” Ponting further said.

The Aussie veteran added that India have a lot more questions to answer than Australia. They have quite a few options to choose from in fast bowling department while they have multiple spin options in R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

“The questions that are being asked around Australia with Pucovski and Green, I think India have got a few more questions to answer,” he said.

“(Fast bowlers Mohammad) Shami, Jasprit Bumrah – will it be Ishant (Sharma), with it be Umesh Yadav, will it be a young guy like (Navdeep) Saini or (Mohammad) Siraj? They’ve got a lot of questions to ask as well. And which spinner? They’ve got a few spinners in their squad and they’ve got to figure out which one to pick for the pink-ball game in Adelaide,” he signed off.

The Border-Gavaskar trophy kickstarts from December 17 in Adelaide in what is going to be a Day-Night Test, first-ever Test under lights with pink ball for India in Australia.