"As a cricket lover like I am and a cricket observer, any time those sorts of battles come up it's almost always nice to sit back and watch because everything just goes up a notch, doesn't it?" Ponting added
Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. File Pic/AFP
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels that the pinnacle of Test match cricket will be actual rivalry between India and Pakistan as Ashes is for England and Australia.
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Ponting played in a lot of big matches at major tournaments during his career, with the rivalry between Australia and England during the Ashes the greatest he experienced. He relished the extra demands that went with those clashes.
"To be totally honest it's one that we've been starved of, haven't we? looking back at the last 15 or 20 years," Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
"As a cricket lover like I am and a cricket observer, any time those sorts of battles come up it's almost always nice to sit back and watch because everything just goes up a notch, doesn't it?," he added.
Notably, India and Pakistan haven't played each other at Test level since they fought out a high-scoring draw in Bengaluru in 2007, with Sourav Ganguly's 239 making headlines.
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There is still an outside chance the two nations could meet again in the final of the ICC World Test Championship next year and Ponting would love to see the rivalry grow even further with the addition of more red-ball cricket.
The rivalry between India and Pakistan is one of cricket's biggest. Asked how this already great rivalry would be even further strengthened, the Australian suggested about Test cricket.
"When I think about rivalries, Australia and England and Ashes cricket is the pinnacle I've always thought of for our Test match game," Ponting noted.
"I'm sure India and Pakistanis will say the same about that and the actual rivalry would be the pinnacle of Test match cricket for those two countries as well," he added.
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