"That's going to be the next challenge" - Ricky Ponting after Australia's BGT 2024-25 series victory

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has identified the next challenge for the national team after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India. He observed that Australia have too many aging players in their line-up and must take steps to phase them out carefully.

The average age of the players in Australia's recent squad to face India in the five-Test series was well above 30. Sam Konstas, who replaced Nathan McSweeney since the fourth Test of the series, was the only cricketer to be aged 19.

Speaking on the latest episode of the ICC Review, Ponting elaborated about Australia's squad:

"There’s not one player in their 20s in that team. You’ve got one at 19 and everyone else over 30. That’s going to be the next challenge for this Australian group. That's going to be the next challenge for this Australian group, not just for the Australian team, but for Australian cricket is to bring on this new group of young players. There's not many opportunities that present themselves."

Nevertheless, the seniors stepped up in their pursuit to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since the 2014-15 series. The likes of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, and Scott Boland played instrumental roles in helping their side win the five-match series 3-1.

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"If they are looking at bringing young players in, it probably needs to start in Sri Lanka and the West Indies" - Ricky Ponting

Australia national cricket team. (Credits: Getty)

Ponting reckons the Sri Lanka tour might not be the best tour to blood young players, given the enormous spin challenges the country represents. He added in the aforementioned interview:

"We've got a tour to Sri Lanka and then the West Indies coming up before the Ashes next summer. If they are looking at bringing young players in, it probably needs to start in Sri Lanka and the West Indies. And if you're bringing young players into the Sri Lankan tour, that's not going to be an easy place for anyone to start.”

The 50-year-old went on to elaborate that Australia picked themselves up quite well from their demoralizing 295-run loss to India in Perth. He further labeled the break ahead of the Adelaide Test as a massive game-changer.

"When I look back to the start of this series and just look how far off the mark the Aussies were in that first game, I think there was a lot of criticism that was flying around about the team. It almost looked a little un-Australian. When you lose a Test match like that against another very strong opposition side, you do have to do a bit of soul searching and do a lot of talking. I think one of the things that probably helped the Aussies was the big break between the first two games," Ponting concluded.

Although India lost the series, Jasprit Bumrah earned the Player of the Series award for his 32 wickets.