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Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has presented his ideal Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022. Ponting has picked Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik as his picks for wicketkeeper for the mega event and has left out Ishan Kishan.
Karthik made a comeback to the Indian squad on the back of a successful Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as their designated finisher. The veteran wicketkeeper-batter proved his mettle in the South Africa series at home with his maiden T20I half-century.
On the other hand, Pant is yet to unleash his natural self in T20Is but found form in white-ball cricket with his maiden ODI century against England in the decider. Ponting, who is head coach of Delhi Capitals (DC) franchise is impressed with Pant’s recent form and has backed him to do well in Australia.
“We have seen what Rishabh is capable of in 50-over cricket, and I know absolutely what he is capable of in the T20 game. Dinesh Karthik has had his best IPL ever just very recently… and I would be trying to find every way to have both of those guys in my team,” Ponting said in the latest episode of ICC Review.
Ponting talked about Hardik Pandya as well. Pandya made an astonishing return to T20I cricket. After winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title as Gujarat Titans' (GT) skipper, Pandya delivered match-winning performances in T20I cricket as well. With him as finisher, Ponting believes that India’s finishers will be “very dangerous”.
“Rishabh to bat, in that three-four-five range, and have Dinesh and maybe Hardik Pandya… if you have those guys finishing for you, well that batting line-up looks very, very dangerous,” Ponting opined.
“Obviously, that means someone like Kishan or Surya or Shreyas Iyer, someone like that, might miss out and I don’t think Surya will miss out given his current form. But when you have so much talent, picking an Indian team is always going to be difficult and Pant and Karthik would be the two I would pick ahead of Kishan right now,” he further explained.
