‘I’ve been a little bit surprised’: Ricky Ponting on Shreyas Iyer’s initial non-inclusion in India’s playing XI vs England in 1st ODI | Cricket News
With Shreyas Iyer revealing on Thursday that he only got into the Indian Playing XI against England at Nagpur due to Virat Kohli getting injured, former Australia skipper and Iyer’s Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting said he was surprised the Indian think tank’s decision of not including the middle order batter. Iyer has been one of the best ODI players for India, playing a vital role in the Men in Blue’s run to the final of the 2023 World Cup, scoring 530 runs.
“I’ve been a little bit surprised that he’s been out of India’s side in the last couple of years. He had a terrific World Cup back in India (2023) where he played beautifully in the middle-order and I actually felt then that he’d almost cemented that spot and made that his own,” opined Ponting on ICC Review.
“Then he had those couple of injuries, obviously injured his back and went out of the side, but his domestic season this year has been brilliant. It sort of coincided with what he’s done since around (IPL) auction time going forward in domestic cricket, he has been pretty much outstanding,” said Ponting about the right-hand batter, who guided Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title last year after missing the 2023 edition due to a serious back injury.
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Iyer steadied India’s innings at Nagpur after the hosts had lost both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma early and scored a 36-ball 59. This was an extension of his good form this season with the Mumbai batter also scoring two centuries in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Ponting said that Iyer will thrive in the Champions Trophy where India play all their matches in Dubai.
“He’s got the game that will stand up to the white-ball formats, especially in that part of the world,” Ponting said.
“On those wickets — the slower, lower wickets — he’s dynamic on those. We know how good a hitter of spin bowling he is and teams tend not to bowl a lot of spin at India, but at some stage it’s going to come,” he added.
