PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer with head coach Ricky Ponting during a nets session ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on May 22, 2026.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Punjab Kings’ coach Ricky Ponting. File
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist has weighed in on the greatest all-rounder debate, challenging Ricky Ponting’s assertion that Jacques Kallis is the best cricketer of all time. While Ponting recently hailed Kallis for his staggering numbers with both bat and ball, Gilchrist believes statistics alone don’t define greatness and instead placed the late Shane Warne at the top of cricket’s all-time elite. “I understand where Ricky is coming from—statistically, the runs, wickets, and catches—but there is more to it than just numbers,” Gilchrist said in an interview with news.com.au. “I personally think Shane Warne is the greatest to have played.”

Ponting had earlier named Kallis as the cricketing GOAT, citing his 13,289 Test runs, 45 centuries, and 292 wickets as unparalleled achievements. However, Gilchrist insisted that Warne’s impact on the game, both as a bowler and a tactician, was unmatched.

“For Warnie to achieve what he did, especially living the way he did and still managing to perform at that level, it shows he was a true champion,” Gilchrist said. “Beyond his bowling, he was also an incredible batsman. He just left way too many runs out there when he played. I don’t even think he knew his own batting talent. When it comes down to pure cricketing genius—batting, bowling, catching, and tactical brilliance—Warnie is No.1 for me.”

Gilchrist’s comments come amid Australia’s dominance in world cricket, which has led to criticism from England supporters. After Australia completed a 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka, England’s Barmy Army accused them of “stat-padding” by selecting weaker opponents to boost their records.

The Barmy Army’s post, “Keep stat-padding, Aussies,” implied that Australia was playing against a Sri Lankan side ranked below them to make their numbers look better. However, Gilchrist was quick to fire back.

“It’ll be interesting to see what excuse they come up with if Australia lifts the Champions Trophy at Lord’s in June,” he quipped. “I bet they will struggle with that one. I absolutely can’t wait for that and the rivalry of the Ashes next year.”

With Australia holding every major bilateral trophy and preparing for another World Test Championship final, Gilchrist believes the team is silencing its critics in the best way possible—by winning.

Away from the international cricketing debates, Gilchrist is also preparing to return to the field for a special charity T20 match in Lismore this weekend. The match is being held to support the region’s recovery from the devastating 2022 floods, which were among the worst natural disasters in Australia’s history.

Set to be played on Saturday, the game will feature a host of cricketing greats, including Dan Christian, Steve O’Keefe, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, and several WBBL and local stars.

Gilchrist, who grew up in Lismore and captained Kadina High School’s cricket team, remains a beloved figure in the region. He admitted that stepping back onto the field is always a nerve-racking experience.

“It’s always nerve-racking to get back out in the middle. Every year, it is tougher to play the game,” Gilchrist said. “You worry about your hamstring going and then facing bowlers, but it’s good fun. That’s what it’s all about—getting back out there with people you’ve traveled the world with and celebrating such a resilient community in the process.”

File image of Virat Kohli.© AFP

File photo of Mohammed Shami.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Questioning Mohammed Shami’s injury management, former greats Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting feel the veteran pacer could have tilted the series in India’s favour had he been added to the squad in the second half of the five-match Border-Gavaskar series.

India’s decade-long stranglehold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended after they went down by six wickets in Sydney to lose the series 1-3.

The pacer, after recovering from an ankle injury, returned to action for his home state Bengal and impressed in all the three formats — Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare one-dayers –, raising hopes of a late inclusion.

But he was officially ruled out before the fourth Test in Melbourne with the BCCI medical team citing a knee swelling, though both Ponting and Shastri believe a trip to Australia and a return late in the series could have been pushed.

“To be honest, I was very surprised with the communication going on in the media as to what exactly happened to Mohammed Shami,” the former Indian head coach stated in The ICC Review.

“Where is he when it comes to recovery? He’s been sitting in the NCA for I don’t know how long. Why can’t proper communication come out on where he stands? A player of his ability, I would have brought him to Australia.

“Absolutely, there’s no question about that (Shami could have tilted the series in Melbourne or Sydney),” Shastri added.

The 62-year-old further said it would have been beneficial if Shami had, at least, travelled with the group in Australia.

“I would have kept him part of the team and made sure that his rehabilitation was done with the team,” said Shastri.

“And then if we thought by the third Test match that no, this guy can’t play the rest of the series, I would let him go. But I would have brought him with the team, kept him, monitored him with the best of the physios and best of the advice even from international physios who are in Australia and seeing how he went. But I would have kept him in the mix.” Shastri believes the fast bowler could have provided adequate help to Jasprit Bumrah, who too struggled with fitness at the end of the series and could not bowl in the second innings of the Sydney Test.

“It got so tight at 1-1 going into Melbourne,” he said.

“You just needed that experience and support. For all you know, he might have raised the bar as well. And it would have been the two guys there (Bumrah and Shami).

“Pat Cummins couldn’t have done it on his own, Scotty Boland had to step in. So you needed a bowler of his experience. You know, as hard as Mohammed Siraj tried, you needed Shami’s experience there.” Echoing Shastri’s views, Australian World Cup-winning captain Ponting said: “I was really surprised when he wasn’t flown out even halfway through the series, two Test matches in.” “India’s make-up obviously had Nitish Reddy there. So you had another seam bowling all-rounder anyway.

“So, if Shami, even if he wasn’t fully fit, if he had to bowl fewer overs in a day, you had a backup seam bowling option to help him out and I think he could have been the difference.

“When you asked me (in an earlier The ICC Review) at the start about what I thought the result would be, I said 3-1 Australia because Shami wasn’t there. That was the first thing I said. That’s how important I felt he was to India.

“If Shami, Bumrah and Siraj were in their starting team, I think things could have been completely different here in Australia.” Shami is currently playing in the domestic one-dayers for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and it remains to be seen if he’s included for the England home series ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in February.

With unprecedented attendance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting asserted that it’s hard to argue that the rivalry between the two teams isn’t the biggest in world cricket. Historically, the England-Australia rivalry is seen as the biggest in Test cricket but the attendance record for the five-Test series between India and Australia stood at 8,37,879 with 3,73,691 spectators marking their attendance at Melbourne Cricket Ground across five days, surpassing the previous mark of 3,50,534 set in 1937.

Ponting was stunned by the numbers and said it would be interesting to see the Ashes attendance when England come to get a better idea of the rivalry from the fan’s perspective.

“I had a look at the numbers yesterday, it was something like 837,000 people came to watch the Test matches, which is unheard of here in Australia,” Ponting told The ICC Review. “So now that this series has happened, Australia have England coming out next summer so we’ll get a better idea then. If the numbers aren’t the same, then there’ll be no doubt that the (Border-Gavaskar) rivalry (is bigger), certainly from the fans’ point of view.

“There’s two separate parts to this: There’s what the fans want to see and the rivalry that they want to make of it, but it’s also how the players view the rivalry between the three teams now.”

Remarkably, there was scope for attendance figures to be even bigger, with early finishes and a rainy Brisbane encounter denying a seven-figure mark. “Perth only went four days, Adelaide only went three days, Sydney only went three days. Those numbers would have been astronomical if those Test matches all went five days.

“So exactly this time next year, we’ll have a great idea of the biggest rivalry in world cricket,” Ponting continued.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri feels that the bar has been raised by the spectators for Test cricket in the modern era in the recently-concluded series that hosts claimed (3-1) for the first time in a decade.

“One stat stands out: 3,75,000 people coming through the gates in that Melbourne Test match, beating the record set 90 years ago of 3,50,000. (In) 1936/1937, when the ‘G’ could hold 120,000 people and when Bradman was playing. It just goes to show the sudden interest in the modern era. The bar has been raised. The bar has been raised big time,” he said.

For Shastri, the narratives and storylines are too good to just watch at home in front of the television and have drawn the public out in force, with many even travelling from overseas to see history unfold in person.

“For people to get out there and watch cricket when there is television, when there are OTT platforms, where all that is there, still for 375,000 people to come (to Melbourne) and then replicate that in Sydney with full houses, it’s unreal,” Shastri added.

Ponting backed up Shastri’s view. “The fans, understanding how good these two cricket teams are, want to be there and want to be part of it and want to see Test Match Cricket at its absolute best,” he said. “Right now, it’s really hard to argue that this isn’t the biggest rivalry in world cricket. It’s grown. Year-on-year, and Ravi (Shastri) and I, have been a part of most of these for the last 15, 20 years. We’ve felt how it’s been growing and growing and the rivalry gets bigger and now the fans are into it as well,” Ponting added.

The final ingredient for Border-Gavaskar series success came through the tug-of-war nature of the series, with Australia coming back from 1-0 down to claim a series victory.

Not only did India harbour hopes of levelling the series to retain the trophy on Day Three in Sydney, but a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final was still within the tourists’ grasp, only for the hosts to hold their nerve in a chase of 162 when Bumrah was unable to bowl.

Ponting praised Australia’s ability to turn things around at the backend.

“When you lose a Test match (in Perth) like that against another very strong opposition side, you do have to do a bit of soul searching and do a lot of talking,” he said. “It’s been a really good turnaround, especially when at the start of the series, I thought Australia would win 3-1, but I actually thought they’d win the early Test matches.

“I thought they’d win Perth, I thought they’d win Brisbane and probably Adelaide and find it harder in Melbourne and Sydney. The conditions that you think India would normally play better in, Australia’s found a way to outplay them in Melbourne and Sydney. It was a really good turnaround and one that they’ll be happy with.”

Shastri, looking at Australia’s success, was lavish in his praise for captain Pat Cummins. “He (Cummins) amazes me. Even when I was the coach in the dressing room, I would just admire his determination, and his willingness to compete. He never gives up and it’s like that session after session – he’ll come at you with the ball,” said the former India coach.

“And just when the chips were down, various times in the series, he rose to the occasion. And not just with the ball, but with the bat as well.”

Jasprit Bumrah was nominated the ‘Player of the Series’© AFP

India captain Rohit Sharma opted to rest in the 5th Test against Australia.© AFP

First day of the ongoing fifth Test between India and Australia grabbed a lot of limelight due to multiple reasons. The day with Rohit Sharma missing the match and giving the captaincy to Jasprit Bumrah. As everyone was coping with Rohit’s absence, another row escalated after star batter Virat Kohli got embroiled into a controversial call with the third umpire. The incident took place in the 7.5 over of India’s first session when Virat Kohli walked in as he replaced Yashasvi Jaiswal on the crease.

Kohli faced Australia pacer Scott Boland for his first ball. The Aussie pacer delivered a length ball which took an edge from Kohli’s bat and went to Smith in the slips. He scooped it up but the ball just touched the turf before it was taken by Marnus Labuschagne at gully.

The on-field umpire immediately went upstairs, to the third umpire, Joel Wilson who had a good look from all the camera angles and gave his decision in favour of India.

This decision fetched mixed reviews from many former cricketers. Former Test umpire Simon Taufel said that the ICC protocol on fair catches says that if the third umpire sees the fingers underneath the ball, that’s good to maintain a fair catch.

Speaking to Channel 7’s coverage of the Sydney Test, Simon Taufel explained why the review was hard to judge.

“Depending upon which side of the fence you sit on you could probably build a case for either decision to be given. Listening to Joel Wilson’s language there (making the decision), where he said the fingers were underneath the ball and then he’s seen it roll on to the ground, by his own language he is telling us that he believes he’s seeing that ball on the ground,” Taufel was quoted by ICC as saying.

“So, there are two things that the TV umpire here is looking for. One is fingers underneath the ball. He was satisfied there. But then he believes through those pictures that he’s clearly seen the ball on the ground. I can certainly understand what the third umpire’s done there. He believes he’s seen the ball on the ground and called it way he’s seen it. Normally the ICC protocol on fair catches is if you see the fingers underneath the ball, that’s good to maintain a fair catch,” he added.

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting completely disagreed with the third umpire’s decision. 

“As far as I was concerned, if (the ball) had’ve come out of (Smith’s) hand, he wouldn’t have been able to scoop it up. That’s what I’m saying, I think his fingers are clearly underneath the ball … look where his pointer figure is there, it’s still underneath the ball,” Ponting said on-air during the commentary with 7Cricket.

However, former India all-rounder backed Kohli and stated that the umpire’s decision was absolutely right. 

“Virat Kohli was not out which was rightly called NOT OUT. will explain during the break,” Pathan wrote on X.

(With ANI Inputs)

Australia were 91/6 at one stage, before Pat Cummins led a strong rearguard with the tail© X (Twitter)