World Cup 2019: Ponting backs Finch, Warner to fire against Pakistan

Ponting believes that the Warner-Finch duo is capable of matching it with the very best and expects them to perform against Pakistan in their next fixture

Despite the 36-run defeat against India, Australia's assistant coach Ricky Ponting has labelled the Aaron Finch-David Warner opening partnership among the best in the ongoing World Cup. The former skipper expects them to perform against Pakistan in their next fixture. The opening duo was not at their usual best and struggled against India in Sunday's match which Australia lost at the Kennington Oval. Both the players were kept on their feet and not allowed to score quickly during Australia's record chase of 353. While Finch was made to toil hard for his, Warner struggled from the start against the Indian attack, managing to score just 56 of 84 balls (strike rate of 66.67). But Ponting believes that the Warner-Finch duo is capable of matching it with the very best. “Finch and Warner are probably as good as openers in the world,” Ponting told cricket.com.au. “Finchy has turned things around really well in the last five or six months, Davey coming back has made runs. “By his own admission today, (Warner) probably wasn't at his absolute best. He hit the field too often early on and wasn't able to rotate as he would have liked,” he added. Ponting believes the current team has enough skills and talent to turn things around. “There's certainly enough skill and enough talent to turn it around pretty quickly,” said Ponting. Australia will go into Wednesday's match as the more confident side as they had whitewashed Pakistan in the five-match ODI series in the UAE earlier this year. However, it would still not be an easy task for the defending champions to go past Sarfaraz Ahmad and his team, who would be brimming with confidence after their emphatic win over tournament favourites England in their last completed match.