"They've Been Outplayed So Far": Ricky Ponting Questions India's Preparation For WTC Final

India's performance in the World Test Championship final against Australia has shown their preparation was not ideal, said Ricky Ponting, who especially raised questions about the readiness of their undercooked pacers. India are staring at another unfavourable result in an ICC final after conceding a first-innings lead of 173 runs to Australia on a seaming pitch. While Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami have been potent in the game, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur looked a bit rusty having not got a lot of overs under their belt in the IPL.

Thakur bowled 21 overs in the whole of IPL and Umesh bowled 19, less than what they bowled in Australia's first innings here.

"I think they have been outplayed so far. Their preparation wasn't probably ideal coming into a one-off Test what with all their players being at the IPL. You know, few of the Australian boys were there. Few of the Australian boys hadn't done anything for three months either," Ponting told PTI in a select media interaction at The Oval.

Ponting said at the end of the day it comes down to individual preparation.

"I don't know (effect on Indian batters). If you ask Virat, he would say that it's been perfect for him because he has got all sorts of runs. If you asked Rahane, he wouldn't have been picked for this match without the IPL. So it's going to work both ways.

"I had a chat with Shardul this morning, he said he's started to feel the pinch because he has not been able to get enough bowling. The over that he has bowled in a day and a half, he bowled in the whole of IPL." Ponting felt both the teams have looked rusty.

"I sort of underlined coming into this game what was the best preparation; was it out and playing pretty high quality competitive cricket in the IPL