ADELAIDE, Jan 28: Ricky Ponting has scoffed at suggestions Australia were in danger of losing their number one ranking due to the retirement of senior players and India’s improving performances.

Australia have lost five of their most experienced players over the last 14 months — Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist.

But captain Ponting, who is also entering the twilight of his career, said Australia had proven they had the depth to cover any retirements by beating India 2-1 in their four-match series that ended on Monday.

“I think we have done a good job,” Ponting told a news conference after the fourth and final Test against India ended in a draw.

“Sri Lanka and India are two of the best Test teams in the world and we have just beaten them both here. The cricket we have played has been very good and I couldn’t be much happier.”

Ponting said he regarded India as the second best team in the world after they rebounded from losses in Melbourne and Sydney to win in Perth then draw in Adelaide.

However, he said his own team remained comfortably ahead of India and expected them to stay that way because so many senior Indian players were expected to quit in the next few years.

“Even though they’re the No 2-ranked team right now they’re going to lose four or five of their best players, maybe even before the next time we play them,” Ponting said.

“They’re going to be going through a very similar phase to what we’ve gone through in the next 12 months. It will be really interesting to see how they and their team back up from that.”

Ponting said there was enough talent in Australia to maintain their top ranking in Test cricket.

“I don’t know how far we are in front but you would think given what we have done over a fair period of time that we would be a fair way in front of the next team.”

Meanwhile, India captain Anil Kumble could not hide his disappointment after his team’s 2-1 series loss but said he was upbeat about the future.

Kumble took pride in the way his team had played during the series, rebounding from a heavy loss in Melbourne to match the Australians over the last three games.

“We have stepped up to their level. That is the quality we have,” Kumble told a news conference.

“We lost pretty badly in Melbourne. We did exceptionally well in Sydney, I wish we had hung on for that seven or eight minutes to get a draw. Perth was very special and the way we played here was exceptional.”

Kumble, who with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and Vangipurappu Laxman were almost certainly making their last appearance on Australian soil, predicted a bright future for Indian cricket with the emergence of younger players on the tour.

“Looking at the talent that was available, with a young lot stepping up to the plate here in the series, and also the future we have with the young players back home, it certainly augers well,” he said.

“We didn’t come with our full strength fast bowling attack and then we lost our main fast bowler, Zaheer (Khan), after the first Test.

“The way the young fast bowling unit responded was fantastic, R.P. Singh led the attack, Irfan (Pathan) came in, bowled beautifully, and Ishant (Sharma) was probably the find of the series.”

India have never won a series in Australia but Kumble believes it was only a matter of time.

“The next Indian team will certainly look back at our performances here and be proud that they can surely come here and win a Test series here,” he said.—Reuters