Ricky Ponting lauds Pat Cummins’ faultless captaincy, pinpoints ‘gutsy move’ that swayed World Cup final vs India | Cricket-world-cup News

After Australia defeated overwhelming favourites India six wickets in the Cricket World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting heaped praise on Pat Cummins for his “faultless captaincy” and picked out a “gutsy move” that influenced the final.
Cummins won the toss at Ahmedabad, and to everyone surprise, asked Indian to bat first. Even Indian skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that he would have batted first had he won the toss.

That moment proved pivotal, as the Indian team faced a rare batting slump and could only post a total of 240 runs. The five-time champions chased down the total with six wickets in hand, thanks to Travis Head scoring 137.
When Ponting was asked about Cummins’ captaincy after the finale, he first dismissed the questions that have persed over Cummins’ leadership. Most Read
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“I don’t know where the negativity’s come from because there’s been no real basis for it. You look at their overall Test record since he’s been captain, it is outstanding. And now he’s a World Cup-winning captain, a World Test Championship-winning captain and a captain who retained the Ashes, so that negativity needs to be put aside now.
“I think that’s (his captaincy) been almost faultless, to be honest. “I thought his leadership actually has got better and better right through the tournament,” he said on Sky Sports on Sunday
Then he pinpointed a gutsy call Cummins had made.
“Any captain deciding to bowl first at the toss, that’s a gutsy, courageous move. Australia felt that if they could bowl well on that dry wicket early on and restrict India, batting was gonna get easier in the second innings – but we all know if you get that call wrong and you lose the game, that’s a huge decision to make for a relatively young captain,” said Ponting who led Australia to World Cup triumphs in 2003 and 2007.