'He's the Most like Rishabh Pant with his Potential': Ponting Names India's 'X-Factor' for WTC Final

The fans are going crazy after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 but after a week, the focus will shift on the longest format of the game. Following the conclusion of the ongoing tournament, Rohit Sharma & Co will regroup and fly to London for the final of the ICC World Test Championship, starting June 7 at the Oval. India, the runners-up of the last edition, will take on mighty Australia in the much-awaited face-off on English soil.

The contest is nearing, exactly a couple of weeks away, while the speculations around the team combinations, their strengths, and weaknesses have started building up. The proceedings began with former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who is currently in India as the Delhi Capitals head coach in the IPL, expressing his views on Suryakumar Yadav not getting picked in the Indian squad.

The Indian team has been dealing with multiple injury concerns for quite a long time now. The likes of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Jasprit Bumrah have been out of action while the management has tried their best to fill the void appropriately. Surya was tried as Iyer’s replacement in the Nagpur Test against Australia earlier this year but he failed to cement his place in the squad for the WTC final. However, he was later named among the reserves alongside Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mukesh Kumar.

Ponting was surprised over the exclusion of Suryakumar Yadav. However, the former Australia captain added that India still have a Rishabh Pant-like player in the squad and hailed him as an ‘X-factor’.

“But there is another X-factor that has just been added in Ishan Kishan. If you look at the way he plays, he is probably the most like Rishabh Pant with his potential to keep and bat in the middle order. If they do play those guys they should be given the right to play an aggressive brand of cricket,” he explained.

Ishan Kishan has been included in the squad to replace KL Rahul who suffered a thigh injury during the ongoing IPL 2023 earlier this month. Ishan comes in a backup wicketkeeper after KS Baharat but is yet to make his Test debut.

“With the injury issues India have got, they can go with few different ways, especially in batting. Before Rahul’s injury I had him in the eleven, now that he is not there, they need to pick Ishan or K S Bharat,” said the three-time ODI World Cup winner,” Ponting added.