Australian legend Ricky Ponting has expressed surprise over Shreyas Iyer‘s inconsistent presence in India’s white-ball cricket team, despite his exceptional performance and ability to handle spinners on slow subcontinental wickets.
Iyer played a crucial role in India’s journey to the 2023 World Cup final, accumulating 530 runs and finishing as the seventh-highest run-scorer. He recently demonstrated his skills with a quick 59 runs off 36 balls against England in the first ODI at Nagpur.
The 30-year-old has maintained his strong form in domestic cricket, scoring two centuries for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
“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.
Ponting believes Iyer will excel in the upcoming Champions Trophy, scheduled to begin in Pakistan and Dubai on February 19.
“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.”
As the Punjab Kings coach, Ponting secured Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore for the upcoming IPL season. He expressed his satisfaction with having Iyer in the team as they aim for their first title.
“If Shreyas is out in the middle, then he’s as good as anyone. So, I’m delighted to see him back in the team.”
