NEW DELHI: ICC Hall of Famer Ricky Ponting expressed confidence in Australia's performance despite the absence of star pace trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood.
During The ICC Review, the former Australian captain expressed optimism about the bowling unit gaining crucial tournament experience, particularly in their challenging match against England.
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"That could be really good for a team going forward. I was a little bit worried. But even though they had some injuries, every time Australia puts a team on the park, you know they're going to be very competitive," Ponting said as quoted by the ICC.
"Winning a game like that when ... it might've been 75-25 probably in England's favour going into the second innings, to be able to pull off a win like that. That's the sort of thing at the start of a tournament that can do wonders for a team," the former Australian skipper added.
Australia began their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with an extraordinary performance, featuring Josh Inglis's century and crucial partnerships with Alex Carey and Glenn Maxwell, successfully chasing 352 runs against England at Lahore on Sunday, with five wickets remaining.
This chase established multiple records: the highest in ICC ODI events, surpassing Pakistan's 345 against Sri Lanka at the 2023 Men's Cricket World Cup; the highest total in ICC Champions Trophy history; Australia's second-highest ODI chase; their highest against England; and the highest ODI chase on Pakistan soil.
Spencer Johnson, Nathan Ellis and Ben Dwarshuis are currently replacing Cummins, Starc and Hazelwood in this tournament. While Johnson and Ellis went without wickets, conceding 105 runs in 17 overs combined, Dwarshuis secured 3/66 in his 10 overs.
Ponting particularly commended Josh Inglis's performance, whose unbeaten 120 from 86 deliveries was instrumental in Australia's successful chase.
"Inglis was absolutely magnificent. He's now made a hundred in every format for Australia, and he's made a Test hundred only a couple of weeks ago and then his first one-day hundred now. You talk about moments, well it doesn't ever become a bigger moment than that. That was a game on the line, the team needing him to stand up," he continued.
"The way that he went about it, the way that he went through the gears, the way that he was able to switch hit and hit powerfully to the leg side off the pace of Archer and Mark Wood. That was an unbelievable knock," the 50-year-old concluded.
