• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Ricky Ponting Prefers Rishabh Pant Dinesh Karthik Over Ishan Kishan For T20 World Cup

Ricky Ponting prefers Rishabh Pant & Dinesh Karthik over Ishan Kishan for T20 World Cup

The T20 World Cup 2022 is fast approaching with the gala event being just a few months away and all the top cricketing nations have already started finalizing their best playing combinations. 


Of all the major arguments, teams' batting lineup remains a centre of discussion. Given the kind of bench strength team India possesses currently, the management will have a tough task on their hands while heading into the showpiece event. 


However, amid all this, the one spot which has sparked a lot of debate is the keeper's position. With the likes of Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson stepping up on occasions with both bat and keeping gloves, it remains to be seen who gets the nod for the World Cup 2022.  


Shedding light on the same in the latest episode of The ICC Review on Wednesday, the former Australia captain and legend Ricky Ponting reckons that team India should pick both the wicket-keeper batters Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik ahead of Ishan Kishan


Ponting, who has worked closely with Pant at Delhi Capitals asserted that he is well aware of the strength and potential the left-hander batter possesses in white-ball format and he can be a great addition to team India's middle order alongside Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya. 


The swashbuckling wicket-keeper batter slammed a match-winning century against England in the third ODI to help India clinch the three-match series. However, Pant’s numbers in the shortest format are not that impressive, which ultimately puts him under the scanner.


“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 The ICC Review.


Picking an Indian team with so much talent is always going to be difficult: Ricky Ponting


As for Dinesh Karthik, the 37-year-old made an inspirational comeback into the Indian squad following a successful IPL season with RCB. Karthik was also called up for the South Africa home series where he nailed the role of a finisher to perfection, and made a case for himself going into the T20 World Cup. 


"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," he added.  


Accommodating both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the playing combination with Hardik Pandya would have an explicit effect on the middle order of the team, which will further complicate the selection. 


Ponting, weighing on the same affirmed that the selection process for a cricketing nation like India, which is considered a hub of talent is always going to be tough and difficult. 


"Obviously that means someone like (Ishan) Kishan or Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) 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," Ponting concluded. 


ALSO READRicky Ponting urges Indian team management to 'make life as easy as possible' for Virat Kohli