Testy and aggressive as he may be on the field when they are batting, Ricky Ponting is not without empathy for the so-called 'ageing stalwarts' in the Indian team who have become the butt of unstinted criticism in the media after their struggles in England and the current tour.

Indeed, Ponting says he took inspiration from Tendulkar and Dravid to prolong his career when it appeared to be crumbling. "These blokes gave me hope that if you are fit and enjoying the game, age does not matter," said Ponting after completing his second century of the series on the first day of the Adelaide Test.

On the second day, the former captain went on to score 221 as Australia, riding some luck with a couple of dropped chances. Australia totalled a whopping 604 before Michael Clarke waved his batsmen back from the middle, almost as if he had been cajoled into mercy killing.

This was, of course, far removed from the truth, for the wickethungry Australian fast bowlers were at the throats of the Indian batsmen with unnerving ferocity. Sehwag, still struggling to judge the bounce of the pitches here, hit an innocuous full toss back to Peter Siddle while Rahul Dravid's horror story added another chapter when he was bowled through the gate yet again - for the ninth time in 11 innings!

Gambhir and Tendulkar repaired the early damage with a stolid approach, eschewing anything fancy, playing straight, secure that the pitch held no terrors. But even on this true pitch, India are not out of danger: the pressure of chasing down a mammoth total can be debilitating even if the 22-yard strip shows no vagaries.

It had been a most rewarding day's cricket for the Australia captain, who followed up a triple ton at Sydney with a double here to mark a sensational series for himself. Yet, in many ways, the story of this series has been about Ponting and his remarkable comeback.

For almost two years, he was hauled over the coals because he had failed to deliver runs with the consistency of old. By any reckoning, Ponting was put on a short leash by the selectors when the Indian team landed Down Under. Ponting, too proud to quit under pressure from peers, former players or the media, took up the challenge. Wanting to go when he wanted to, Ponting grit his teeth and buckled down to answer his critics.

Clarke, with whom Ponting had two massive partnerships, has scored a whopping 589 runs this series. He's also been the more flamboyant and attractive, but the difference in runs between the two must be juxtaposed with the fact that Ponting has come in to bat more often when Australia have been in trouble; not to mention fighting his own demons.

In purely academic terms, the double ton in Adelaide has been the better of his centuries because Ponting showed the middle of the bat more often. But the Sydney century was perhaps more crucial: Australia were three down for next to nothing against a rampaging Zaheer Khan when Ponting was joined by his captain and the two pulled their side out of trouble into a position of utter dominance.

What has emerged over the past month is perhaps one of the most rivetting resurrections in cricket history. Ponting now has 484 runs in the series, with two centuries. "I am not retiring," he categorically told a story-hungry media after scoring the century in Adelaide. "I have been through a lot, but I've battled it out. I am 37, but enjoying every minute of it, and if my runs help the cause of Australian cricket, what better?" Clearly the equation has changed somewhat from the start of the series: now the Indian stalwarts would do well by seeking inspiration from Ponting.