Ricky Ponting batsmen in danger on the final day, a rearguard counterattacking partnership by Kevin Pietersen and Ashley Giles on the final afternoon secured a draw for the hosts. Thus, the Ashes were lost for the first time in 16 years. The setback to Australia, and to Ponting as Australian captain, of the 2005 Ashes defeat, was to prove a strong motivation for the Australian camp to improve their standards and overcome any complacency that may have arisen from Australia's being the world's premier cricketing nation for a decade. Prior to the Ashes defeat, Australia's dominance had prompted the ICC to organise
Ricky Ponting the Indian journalists, lashing out at them for "questioning my [Ponting's] integrity". The Australian players faced much questioning as a result of the fallout of the incident. The Australian team maintained that they play hard but fair. In regards to the racism issue, Ponting denied he did anything wrong by singularly reporting Harbhajan Singh for being abusive. Ponting stated that he was obligated to refer any incidents of racism to officials as it is widely agreed that racism is unacceptable anywhere in the world. After criticism of the Australian team in multiple media continued, a shocked Ponting promised to ensure