April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

MUMBAI, April 16: India pose a serious threat to Australia’s Test cricket supremacy, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said on Wednesday.

Australia have dominated the Test championship race, finishing top of the 12-month cycle ending on March 31 for the fourth year in succession, but Ponting said the way the new cycle pans out will depend on the younger members of his team.

“India certainly have a great team together at the moment and South Africa have played excellent cricket for a number of years in both forms of the game,” he told a news conference.

“So we just have to wait and see,” he said after collecting the ICC Mace, the Test championship trophy, at a function in Mumbai.

India, who lost an acrimonious recent Test series 2-1 in Australia, finished second in the Test rankings after squaring a home series with South Africa at the weekend.

“Hopefully over the next 12 months the younger guys that we bring into the (Australian) national team will stand up and perform,” Ponting said.

“If they can do that and the older guys like me, Hayden and the other guys keep pulling our weight we can hopefully remain number one.”—Reuters