India tour may hamper Ashes preparation: Ponting

New Delhi:

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting fears that the forthcoming tour of India in October may hamper their preparation for the Ashes series commencing in November 25 at Brisbane.

Ponting said ideally Australia should not have played on dry and flat Indian pitches in the run-up to the five-match series against arch-rivals England at home.

"If you were trying to sit down and map out your perfect preparation for an Ashes series or a home series it probably wouldn't be playing two Test matches in India," Ponting said.

"But you don't live in an ideal world. That's the way international cricket is these days," Ponting was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.

Australia play two Tests - in Chandigarh (October 1-5) and Bangalore (October 9-13) - followed by three one-dayers during their India tour.

Talking about Australia's three-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the second Test at Leeds, Ponting admitted that he had misjudged the batting conditions after winning the toss.

"We were definitely playing catch-up from stumps day one. That's my responsibility, to get those sorts of things right and make those decisions," Ponting said.

Australia were bowled out by Pakistan for just 88 - their lowest total in 26 years - on the first day of the second Test at Headingley, which also ended Pakistan's 15-year wait for a Test win over Australia.