Ricky Ponting predicts the winner of upcoming India-Australia ODI series

India and Australia set to face each other in a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series, beginning on January 14 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The second and the third ODI will be played on January 17 and January 19 in Rajkot and Bengaluru respectively.

While India will be eyeing revenge after Australia defeated them early in 2019 at home in an ODI series, Aaron Finch & Co. are coming into the series on the back of a glorious performance in limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting turned predictor for the upcoming series during a Q&A session on his official Twitter handle. After he was asked who would win the series, Ponting suggested that India will be eager to reclaim themselves from their last series defeat against Australia while the tourists will be high on confidence to continue their winning streak.

Ricky Ponting dons the predictor’s hat

Ponting tweeted, “Australia will be full of confidence after an excellent World Cup and a great summer of Test cricket but India will be keen to redeem themselves from the last ODI series loss against Australia. Prediction: 2-1 Australia.”

Australia will be full of confidence after an excellent World Cup and a great summer of Test cricket but India will be keen to redeem themselves from the last ODI series loss against Australia. Prediction: 2-1 Australia https://t.co/r5fIiLNs6Y

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) January 12, 2020

The 45-year-old was also asked if Australia’s new Test hero Marnus Labuschagne will be able to replicate the same form in 50-overs cricket as well. To that Ponting said the 25-year-old is more than capable of bringing his red-ball form to the white-ball game.

He wrote: “I think he’ll do a great job for Australia in the middle order. He’s a very good player of spin, a very good runner between the wickets, gun in the field and can bowl some handy leg-spin so the overall package is very appealing.”

I think he'll do a great job for Australia in the middle order. He's a very good player of spin, a very good runner between the wickets, gun in the field and can bowl some handy leg spin so the overall package is very appealing https://t.co/AUaDdU9yWL

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) January 12, 2020

Earlier, Australian skipper Finch had also applauded the current form of Labuschagne as he highlighted on the impact the 25-year-old is having in Test cricket and said that he is “ready” for ODI. “The improvement we have seen in Marnus’s game over the last 12 months has been huge and that has been reflected in his scores and the impact that he is having in test matches,” Finch said.