Perth win is one of India's greatest overseas triumphs - Ponting

Ricky Ponting reckons India's recent win in Perth in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series opener is the team's greatest overseas triumph. "It'll go down, I'm sure, as one of India's greatest ever Test match wins, and it probably should." India have had some comprehensive and incredible wins overseas, including the Gabba 2021 outcome, which propelled them to a come-from-behind series win. But the former Australia captain had his reasons.

"With the players down that they had... Rohit (Sharma), not there, (Shubman) Gil, not there and (Mohammed) Shami not there... It's an amazing win." India won the match by 295 runs, after slumping to a tiny score in the first innings.

"After getting bowled out for 150, it was a bit, yeah, a shock win. And they've won by the best part of 300 runs. So it's an incredible turnaround," said Ponting, looking back on the Test that ended in four days. He was speaking to Cricbuzz in Jeddah, during on the sidelines of the IPL auction, representing Punjab Kings as their head coach.

Ponting tried to analyse why India held the upper hand throughout the Test and cited the importance of the toss. "Winning the toss was a big advantage. I said that at the time. The record is that the team that won (at the Optus Stadium) batted first. Every time." Incidentally, Australia won four of the five Tests there batting first.

India's stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah chose to bat and the team folded for 150 in less than 50 overs. But they fought back to claim seven wickets on the first day (67 for 7 at stumps on Day 1), with Bumrah scalping four of them. The captain led from the front with eight wickets, overall, in the Test and was rightfully declared the Player of the Test.

"Oh, no doubt, Bumrah led the way. The way he bowled at the start of the first innings was incredible. You know, with Shami not being there, he had to stand up and lead the way. And being the captain, he did it. He did it on field with his leadership, and he did it with the ball in hand.

"Obviously, Virat (Kohli, who scored an unbeaten century) had to do what he did in the second innings and he set the game up along with (Yashasvi) Jaiswal. But I think their whole bowling group stood up late on Day One. The second half of the first day was probably where the game changed."

The Indian win was special coming as it did after a shock 0-3 washout at home against New Zealand. Ponting opined that India wouldn't have faced such humiliation if the wickets in that series were good and is convinced that they are a better side overseas than at home.

"One point I did make, and I think it's really true. I'm not sure how much (this) has been spoken about here, but I think Indian batsmen now play better away from home than they play at home. I think they're better players of fast bowling now than they are of spin bowling.

And I think that's been proven this (last) week. To be able to go to Perth, have a young kid like Jaiswal make 100 (161) on that wicket, even Nitish Reddy being able to make 40 (41) in the first innings... I think they (India) play better on those wickets than they do on the slow spinning tracks that they've been getting at home. I mean, there's no way in the world New Zealand would have beaten them on good wickets."

Ponting had predicted that the final outcome of the BGT would be 3-1. He still stands by that prognosis. "No, I have not changed my view. I'll stay with that. India won the first (Test). I said 3-1 at the start. Yes, I'll stick with it. But it's a long way back. The Aussies have now got a fair bit of work to do."