Shreyas Iyer is 'as good as anyone': Ricky Ponting joins list of ex-cricketers baffled by star India batter's exclusion
Shreyas Iyer had revealed after the first ODI that he was originally not supposed to play and made it only because Virat Kohli was injured.
Shreyas Iyer gave a reminder of his sensational form in ODI cricket with an innings that knocked the wind out of England's sails in the first match in Nagpur and Australia great Ricky Ponting said that he was surprised by the batter's original exclusion. Iyer had seemingly established himself as India's No.4 in recent years, scoring 468 runs at an average of 66.25 in the 2023 World Cup. His strike rate of 113.24 was the best among India's middle-order batters. India, however, decided to hand Yashasvi Jaiswal a debut in their original lineup before Kohli's injury.
Jaiswal's inclusion forced a reshuffle of the Indian top order, with Shubman Gill moving down to No.3, which is famously Kohli's spot in the ODI squad. It is as of yet unclear if India meant to move Kohli down to No.4 if he was unavailable. A number of former cricketers have expressed surprise at this scenario and over Iyer being originally being dropped despite his incredible consistency in recent ODIs.
Ponting worked with Iyer when he was head coach of Delhi Capitals and is set to be reunited with him at Punjab Kings in the IPL. "I've been a little bit surprised that he's been out of India's side the last couple of years. He had a terrific World Cup back in India where he played beautifully in the middle-order and I actually felt then that he'd almost cemented that spot and made that his own," Ponting said.
"Then he had those couple of injuries, obviously injured his back and went out of the side, but his domestic season this year has been brilliant. It sort of coincided with what he's done since around (IPL) auction time going forward in domestic cricket, he has been pretty much outstanding," he added.
"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. If Shreyas is out in the middle, then he's as good as anyone. So I'm delighted to see him back in their team," Ponting said.
‘I was watching a movie’
Iyer came in when India were 19/2 in the sixth over, having lost both their openers early. He took the England pacers to the cleaners, making sure to hit short balls to the boundary as many times as possible and ended up scoring 59 runs in 36 balls. After the match, he explained how he prepared himself after being told last minute that he will be playing.
"It's actually a funny story. I was watching the movie last night. I thought that I could extend my nighttime. Then I got a call from the skipper saying that I may play because Virat has got a swollen knee, and I hurried back to my room and went off to sleep straight. So we didn't know that," said Iyer.
