Oz lacked desperation, says Ponting

Sydney, January 6 

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Sunday slammed the current team for showing “no desperation” after Nathan Lyon decided against reviewing his lbw decision on Day 4. Lyon was adjudged LBW after being hit on the pad off a Kuldeep Yadav delivery. He asked non-striker Mitchell Starc if he should opt for a review, but the duo decided against it despite two reviews remaining in their innings and only two wickets left. 

“That dismissal actually says a lot to me about the mindset of this Australian team at the moment. There’s no desperation there whatsoever,” said Ponting. “Why wouldn’t they have had a look at that? They’ve still got the two reviews up their sleeve. There had to be some sort of doubt in that,” Ponting added.

The former three-time World Cup winning cricketer also slammed pacer Starc, who was at the non-striker’s end, for not intervening. “Given out straight away and Mitchell Starc just puts his hand out and says ‘oh well, it’s not me, it’s up to you to make (a call)”.

“Well, unfortunately, when you’re out there together it’s a partnership. You’ve got to do whatever you can to try and save your mate. And there was absolutely none of that there,” he added. — PTI