I am there if needed, Ponting tells Clarke

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting doesn't want to give any unsolicited advice to his teammates, but said if the boys, including his successor Michael Clarke, need advice he will always be available for them.

"I am just a player in the team now and if Michael or any of the boys want advice, I am just going to be there to give it to them when asked," Ponting was quoted as saying by The Australian.

"My time of being in charge - those days are over and I will just sit over in the corner and make sure I prepare well for every game, and out on the field if there is advice I am being asked for, I will be more than happy to give it," he said.

Ponting, however, admitted that he does have some wisdom for his teammates.

"One thing we can't afford to do, especially when you go anywhere on the subcontinent, is worry too much about wicket conditions," the former skipper said.

"In the past we have talked ourselves into what we think conditions are going to be like before we actually started and made things increasingly difficult for ourselves. There won't be any talk about that."

"We've got plenty of time to get prepared; we've got five days of training before the one-dayers come around. Michael and I are not playing Twenty20, but we've got five one-dayers before the tour game. So, there is plenty of opportunity for us and there should be no excuses come Test time."

Ponting also said that he is not ready to field in slips since he has not recovered fully from the fractured finger, which he had operated on again after the World Cup.