'I’ve been the one endorsing him': Ricky Ponting breaks silence on Shreyas Iyer's promotion as India's T20I skipper

It looks like Shreyas Iyer's fortunes have been changed, the star middle-order batter has been appointed as captain of the Indian T20I side. The BCCI named the men's squad for the upcoming T20I series against Ireland and England on Saturday, June 6 and Shreyas made his comeback in the format, but now as a leader of the side.

Ricky Ponting reflects on Shreyas Iyer's appointment as India skipper

Reacting on this, Punjab Kings' head coach Ricky Ponting has expressed his happiness on Iyer's promotion, as he was quite vocal for the batter's inclusion in the Indian T20I team in the last couple of years. Now, seeing Iyer becoming the captain of the team, Ponting could not contain his emotions.

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In an interaction with The Times of India, Ponting claimed that he was endorsing Iyer for the leadership role and told the Indian selectors that they won't face disappointment with this decision.

“I’ve been the one endorsing him for the role and telling the Indian selectors that if they give him a chance, I don’t think they’ll be disappointed. As I said, it’s a great achievement. It’s terrific recognition for the hard work he has put in over a long period of time, and I’m sure he’ll do a great job as captain of India," said Iyer.

While talking further, Ponting claimed that Indian selectors must have loved the way Shreyas handles himself in the pressure situations, as leading India is a very exhausting job. Ponting believes Shreyas remains unfazed by the pressure and that is the reason behind his success in recent years.

“I think that’s probably one of the big things that the Indian selectors have looked at, just how he’s handled himself under pressure. Because it’s, you know, when you’re captain of India, it’s a high-pressure job. And I think, you know, more often than not, Shreyas has always found a way to play well in those big pressure moments. So I think as a player, he’ll be fine,"

Team India's squad for series against Ireland and England

Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Sanju Samson (wk), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi

Team India is all set to play a total of seven games during the upcoming tours of Ireland and England. The campaign will start on June 26, with the final T20I scheduled to be played on July 11.