Ponting, coach of the Delhi Daredevils, said he was shocked about the ball-tampering incident which involved Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner.

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‘This is the first time I have actually answered a single question about what’s happened in South Africa over the last couple of weeks,’ Ponting said in New Delhi ahead of the 2018 IPL season.

‘At the end of the day as a past player and as a former captain I was obviously quite shocked to see what actually took place out there on the field. The pleasing thing to me is that all this issue is starting to come to an end.

‘We in Australia like to play the game hard and we like to play the game fair and our fans expect Australian players [to] play that way.’

Ponting said he understood the backlash the banned trio received from the Australia public.

‘I think the reaction back in Australia was as big as it was because I think the Australian public felt the Australian players hadn’t played the game in a fair way.

‘The cultural issue for me is a really interesting thing. Because when you wound the clock back just a couple of months when Australia won the Ashes there was no talk about cultural problems or issues whatsoever.

‘So I think a lot of times these cultural things get blown out of proportion and get spoken about a lot when the reality of the dressing room is completely different from what is actually spoken about all the time.’