Legendary Australia captain Ricky Ponting has pointed out the real chink in the armour for India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. The Indian team will be looking to complete a hat-trick of Test series win on Australian soil, but Ponting suggests that they will miss the services of Mohammed Shami, who is still not fully fit and left out of the squad. Shami was confident of getting a place in the BGT squad a few weeks back, but he failed to prove his fitness after recovering from injury and was left out of the squad.

Ponting asserted that Shami's absence will be a big loss for the visitors, as India will miss his skills on Australian soil.

“The big omission is Shami not being fit. I think that’s a huge loss for India. He’s been one of the leading fast bowlers in the world for the last three or four years, and mainly with the red ball. His one-day record’s been very good, but what he’s been able to do home and away with the red ball in Test cricket has been quite phenomenal," Ponting said in a video shared by the ICC on Instagram.

Shami also had to return to India after the first Test due to injury during the 2020-21 tour, when the Asian Giants emerged 2-1 victorious. Meanwhile, he has a decent bowling record on Australian soil with 31 wickets in 8 Tests.

‘Shami perfectly suited to bowling in Perth and Adelaide’

Ponting claimed that if you asked the Australian players about facing Shami, they would certainly say how difficult the job is.

“You talk to all the players that face him as well; they talk about how hard he is and how difficult he is. And then when you think about where the first two Tests are with Perth and Adelaide, he’d be perfectly suited to bowling in those conditions. So, I think that’s the only real chink in the armour," he added.

Under Virat Kohli's leadership, India became the first Asian team to beat Australia Down Under in 2018-19, and then Ajinkya Rahane inspired them once again in 2020-21 to script history. However, Rohit Sharma and Co. suffered a defeat to the Aussies in the World Test Championship final last year.

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