Australia great Ricky Ponting is surprised Shreyas Iyer is not a walk-up start in India’s top six and expects the in-form batter to thrive during the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.
Iyer was a major factor in India’s run to the final at the ICC World Cup on home soil in 2023, with the right-hander amassing 530 runs during the tournament to finish as the seventh leading run-scorer.
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But a serious back injury has hampered Iyer in recent times and it was only a late reprieve that allowed the 30-year-old to return to the international fold when he scored an excellent half-century to help propel India to victory in the opening ODI against England in Nagpur on Thursday.
Ponting believes the damaging batter can prove a key player for India at the Champions Trophy as he will be suited by the conditions.
“He’s got the game that will stand up to the white-ball formats, especially in that part of the world,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.
“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.
“If Shreyas is out in the middle, then he’s as good as anyone. So I’m delighted to see him back in their team.”
Ponting has been a long-time admirer of Iyer and this showed during the most recent IPL auction when the new Punjab Kings coach splashed Rs 26.75 crore on the hard-hitter to clinch his services for the upcoming tournament.
The Australian legend’s show of faith from the auction at the end of last year has already been franked, with Iyer having shown glimpses of his best form at the domestic level with two centuries for Mumbai on either side of the new year.
“I’ve been a little bit surprised that he’s been out of India’s side the last couple of years,” Ponting added.
“He had a terrific World Cup back in India 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.
“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,” he added.
