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Iyer proved his batting chops last night with a fiery fifty of his own, as India cruised to a four-wicket win against England in the firt ODI in Nagpur.
Shreyas Iyer. (Sportzpics Photo)
Former Australian skipper and PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting finds it incredulous that Shreyas Iyer has not been given a permanent slot in India’s ODI squad, given his well-established repertoire in the white-ball format of the game.
Iyer was one of the vital cogs in India’s run to the final of the 50-over World Cup in 2023, with the middle-order batter scoring 530 runs to emerge the seventh-highest run-getter in the global event.
More recently though, Iyer proved his batting chops last night with a fiery fifty of his own, as India cruised to a four-wicket win against England in the firt ODI in Nagpur.
India lost both their openers but Shreyas came out with a brilliant counterattacking 59 in just 36 balls to shift the momentum yet again to the hosts.
In domestic cricket too, the 30-year-old has been in fine fettle this season, scoring two centuries for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
All of these factors led to Ponting, who is the Punjab Kings coach who bought Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore for the upcoming IPL season, being surprised over Iyer’s exclusion from the side over the last couple years.
“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 feels Iyer will thrive in the Champions Trophy, beginning 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.”
