Vested interest or honest admission? Ricky Ponting, who was made Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, has backed PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer to find success at the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai.
Shreyas Iyer ready to have an impact in ICC Champions Trophy
The No. 4 batter struck an incredible 59 from just 36 balls in the India vs. England 1st ODI. In doing so, he became the only batter in the history of ODI cricket to score more than 1000 runs at an average of over 50 and a strike rate of more than 100. Everyone knows his spin prowess, but his pace-hitting was on full display in Nagpur.
He took down Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood, and Brydon Carse, who went hard at Shreyas Iyer with their short-ball tactic. Considering the India cricket team will play their ICC Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, the Indian No. 4 can be the most dangerous batter in the Indian lineup.
“He’s got the game that will stand up to the white-ball formats, especially in that part of the world. 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,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.
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Shreyas Iyer, not confirmed in India’s XI?
The only issue is Shreyas Iyer might not have a 100% guaranteed spot in India’s Playing XI. He did score a sumptuous 59, but he wasn’t even supposed to play in Nagpur. He only came in after Virat Kohli got injured. Originally, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma wanted Yashasvi Jaiswal over him.
Gambhir seems to be obsessed with a right-left combination, and that’s why Jaiswal was picked ahead and Axar Patel was promoted to No. 5 despite KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya still to come. Will Shreyas Iyer’s fifty change things, or will Gambhir back his original decision?
India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
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