Ricky Ponting Backs Suryakumar Yadav For India’s ODI World Cup Squad; Picks KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan as Wicketkeepers

Delhi: With doubts over Shreyas Iyer’s participation in the ODI World Cup squad growing, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting reckons the team should stick with Suryakaumar Yadav despite his poor form in 50-overs cricket. Drawing parallels with Symonds, Ponting reckoned Surya is the kind of a player who can win you a World Cup. And hence despite his recent inconsistent form, he should be backed.

“I feel India should stick with Suryakumar Yadav in ODI, he is the sort of player that can win you World Cup, he might be a little bit inconsistent but sort of player for big moments, a bit like late Great Symmonds did for Australia,” Ponting said on ICC.

“I mean, I’m not sure I have seen it before where someone’s got three first-ball ducks in a row in an entire series. But look, we’ve all been there. You have your ups and downs as international players,” he added.

He has also backed KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan for the WC squad as wicketkeepers. Ponting also believed that the player could be best utilised at the number five spot.

“I think he was only batting at five, wasn’t he? I don’t think they want him much lower than that, especially when they’ve got Hardik (Pandya), (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar (Patel), they’ve got plenty of batting,” Ponting noted.

“I’m a big believer in giving your best batter as much time as you can in all formats of the game. Because if you keep them down the order, quite often you don’t get to use your best players and that’s the last thing you want. So I think the No.5 slot’s perfect for him and he’s just got to grow into that role there.”