Ponting finally sees positives of India loss

Melbourne: The humbling Test series loss in India followed by the scathing criticism at home doubled up to make for a miserable time for Australian cricketers but skipper Ricky Ponting insisted that far from having a demoralising effect, the setback has made his team stronger.

"There are positives in losing a series. Losing can make good cricketers with character better. I'm sure that has been the case for a lot of our blokes who have come into the side recently and for some who have been there for a long time," Ponting, who himself drew flak for his "ordinary" captaincy during the 0-2 loss, wrote in a column for 'The Australian'.

"We are not in India now. While it is important for us all to think about what happened and how we played, you cannot live in the past with cricket, we have to put things behind us and move on quickly," he added, urging the team to focus on the tasks ahead.

Ponting reiterated that the Indians played better cricket in the four-match series but asserted that the Aussies would be back to their best after having learnt from the debacle.

"We were beaten by a better side there and now it's time to change gears," he said referring to the upcoming Test series against New Zealand starting November 20.

"There were, however, a lot of good things to take out of that series and the more I think about it the more confident I am about the future," he added.

Ponting singled out Simon Katich and Shane Watson's performances as the biggest gains in an otherwise poor series for the world champions.

"Simon Katich was a real positive for us. His form was very good, as it was in the West Indies. We took him to India because he had success there before and he did not let us down. He handled the conditions as well, if not better, than anybody."

"Shane Watson was a revelation. His bowling stood up as good as any of our quicks and his batting in Mohali showed his qualities. There had been question marks about Watto's ability to stand up physically to Test cricket and he did that, finishing off the tour as well as he started it," he pointed out.

Rookie spinner Jason Krejza, who grabbed 12 wickets in his debut Test in Nagpur, also got a word of praise from Ponting.

"...it is stating the obvious to say that Jason Krejza was terrific in India, 12 wickets on debut is a once-in-a-generation effort, but what was so good was watching him improve as the tour went on. "

"He's got very good flight, drift and drop, he puts a lot of over-spin on the ball and gets a lot of turn. He's still a work in progress," he said.