Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting reckons wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant would be Team India's game-changer in the T20 World Cup Down Under. Describing Rishabh Pant as a dynamic and dangerous cricketer who could change the complexion of the match with his clean hitting, Ricky Ponting believes that the conditions in Australia would suit Rishabh Pant's style of play. The veteran of 168 Tests also spoke about the Uttarakhand-born player's batting position in the batting line and he suggested that the Indian cricket team should use him as a “floater” as it would keep the opposition guessing all the time while allowing Rishabh Pant to unleash his shots early in the innings if he's sent up the order.
Ricky Ponting shares a close bond with Rishabh Pant, having coached him at the Delhi Capitals, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise the 24-year-old represents in the elite T20 competition.
“I reckon they'll have him as a floater,” Ponting told former England women's cricketer Isa Guha in The ICC Review.
“They'll have listed (him) at five in the batting line-up. But in certain situations, if they get to a stage where there are seven-eight overs to go and they're one or two down, they'll look to sending him in and giving him as much time as they can. He's that dynamic, and that explosive. That's certainly the way that I'll try and use him,” the legendary Australian skipper added.
“He's wonderful … talk about great people. He's just an outstanding young man that's got the world at his feet. He'll be exceptionally dangerous for India, especially on the wickets we'll prepare in Australia (for the T20 World Cup) – good, fast, flat, bouncy wickets. He'll be one of the players to watch at the tournament for sure,” he opined.
Meanwhile, Ponting also had his say on whether Dinesh Karthik (DK) should be a part of the Indian cricket team's squad for the T20 World Cup.
Ponting believes that the skill-set that Dinesh Karthik possesses and the way he batted for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL, makes him a worthy candidate for the finisher's role in the national team.
“I would have him, and I'd have him in at that five or six role,” he said. “The way that he finished games for RCB this year, he took his game to another level.”
“When you look at the IPL, you want your better players to maybe be able to win two or three, maybe four games through the season. If you can get that out of them, it's probably going to be a really good return. But Dinesh probably had a bigger impact on a lot of the games than most of the other RCB players did this year,” The Tasmanian continued.
“Virat (Kohli) having the year he's had, Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) started the tournament really well … but DK was the one. And Faf too I guess, who kept the RCB bandwagon rolling. I'd be surprised if he's not in there (India) line-up somewhere,” Ponting summed up.
On Thursday, Dinesh Karthik (DK) played his first game for Team India in three years after featuring in the T20I series opener against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
While Dinesh Karthik didn't get much time in the middle as he faced only two deliveries in India's innings, remaining not out on 1, his comeback to the Rishabh Pant-led side was celebrated like a festival on social media.
Just like Ponting, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid had come out in support of the Tamil Nadu-born cricket star, saying he was included in the Indian cricket team to do a specific job at a particular position in the batting line and he should now deliver on his promise.
“With Dinesh it is pretty obvious and very clear. He has made a comeback based on the skills that he has shown in a particular phase of the game. The phase of the game that Dinesh, at the back-end, has really been able to show skills over the last two or three years, he has been able to be a point of difference for whichever team that he has played,” Rahul Dravid said in a press conference a few days before India’s first T20I against the Proteas in Delhi.
“I see that as no different (in Team India). That’s why he has been picked. He has been picked to bat in that kind of position, and see whether he can replicate those kind of performance for India as well,” Dravid concluded.
Dinesh Karthik will now be back in action in the second T20I between India and South Africa on Sunday when the match will be played at Cuttack's Barabati Stadium.
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