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According to Ponting, England star Harry Brook, who became world No. 1 Test batter on Wednesday, is a generational player, and his best is yet to come.
Ricky Ponting picks 25-year-old DC star as best Test batter in the world. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Former Australian captain and legendary batter Ricky Ponting is full of praise for star English batter Harry Brook, who on Wednesday (December 11) replaced his teammate Joe Root to become the new world No. 1 Test batter. 25-year-old Brook, who made his Test debut for England in 2022, has been in red-hot form these days. He scored a triple century for the Poms in the first Test of the three-match series played against Pakistan in October 2024, and in the first two Tests of the ongoing three-match series against New Zealand, he has crossed the triple-figure mark in the first innings of both matches.
Impressed by Brook’s red-hot form, Ponting, who has now donned the hat of an expert, said Brook is currently the best Test batter in the world, and he deserves to take the No. 1 position in the ICC Test batter’s ranking.
According to Ponting, Brook’s performance away from home sets him apart from others. The right-handed batter has scored seven of his eight Test centuries away from home.
“He (Brook) probably is (the best Test batter in the world) right now,” Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review. “He is doing some pretty amazing things, and most of them he is doing away from home.”
“That’s his seventh hundred now away from home out of eight or nine hundreds, and it’s the way he gets his runs, with class, and he gets them quickly under this new regime, and I love watching him play,” he added.
Ponting thinks Brook is a generational player, and that’s why he signed him for Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2024 auction.
“I got him in the IPL auction last year because I think he’s a generational type of player,” Ponting said. “I think he’s really starting to show that now at Test level, and I think he can do the same across all three formats.”
Brook joined Delhi Capitals for Rs 4 crore in the IPL 2024 auction, but he pulled out of the tournament due to personal reasons. In the IPL 2025 mega auction, DC again signed him for Rs 6.25 crore.
