'He Can Win You the World Cup'- Ricky Ponting Backs Indian Star Batter

image-lg6koe7uRicky Ponting is a part of the Delhi Capitals coaching set up in IPL 2023 (Source: Twitter)

Former Australian captain and current Delhi Capitals" coach Ricky Ponting has put his weight of support behind SuryaKumar Yadav as the former World Cup winner suggested the Indian management stick with the struggling batter in the 50-over format.

Surya has been sensational over the last 2 years when it comes to T20 batting, but the stylish 360-degree batter has been unable to emulate the same in ODIs.

Surya was dismissed for three consecutive golden ducks in the recent ODI series against Australians, but Ponting isn't looking too much into that as he believes that its a part and parcel of playing international cricket.



Speaking to Sanjana Ganeshan on the ICC Review, Ponting said:

"Yeah, absolutely. Everyone in their career goes through something like that. I mean, I'm not sure I have seen it before where someone's got three first-ball ducks in a row in an entire series. But look, we've all been there. You have your ups and downs as international players," Ponting told Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.

"His previous 12 or 18 months have been absolutely outstanding. And everyone around the world knows what Surya can do in white-ball cricket," he added.

With Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant both out of contention due to their respective injuries, Ponting urged the Indian think-tank to stick with SKY as he believes that the middle-order batter is in a similar mould to the late Andrew Symonds, who can take the game away from the opposition on his day.

"I feel they should stick with him because he's the sort of player that can win you a World Cup. He might be a little bit inconsistent but he's the sort of guy that in big moments can win you games. A bit like the late great Andrew Symonds did for Australia. So that's the way that I'd look at it for India. I wouldn't be playing safe. I'd be going with match-winning players and I think he's a match-winner," added the three-time World Cup winner.

Surya has thus far featured in 23 ODIs, in which he has managed 433 runs at an average of 24.06 with just 2 50+ scores.