Brisbane: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has admired the discipline and application of Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur for their brilliant rear-guard batting effort, which kept India in contention in the series-deciding fourth Test here.
Washington (62) and Shardul (67) led a splendid lower-order fightback after India were reduced to 186 for 6 in reply to Australia's 369. The duo stitched 123 runs for the seventh wicket and defied the Australians for 36 overs.
"The batsmanship has been a real standout and their application and concentration. They didn't throw it away. The partnership was outstanding, exactly what India needed at the time which is what they've been able to produce in a few Test matches," Ponting was quoted as saying by Australian media.
"Shardul at the end went for a shot that probably wasn't quite on but before that there weren't many false shots at all played by either of them."
Ponting, however, felt Australia lacked aggression and their fast bowlers should have attacked the Indian lower-order with more short-pitched deliveries.
"I don't think they were aggressive enough, didn't bowl enough short balls. They let the Indian batsmen be way too comfortable at the crease. They almost bowled the way those batsmen would have wanted them to bowl," said the legendary batsman.