Shreyas Iyer is the new captain of India in T20Is and among those elated by this development is Australia great Ricky Ponting, who has worked with Iyer extensively in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ponting is head coach of the Punjab Kings, the side that Iyer captains and the former was instrumental in the franchise acquiring him for a record price at the 2024 IPL auction. While that record was broken just minutes later by Lucknow Super Giants to acquire Rishabh Pant, Iyer has spearheaded a bit of a revolution in PBKS, making them a formidable outfit that reached the final last season and dominated the first half of the league stage this year, before a spectacular collapse led to them missing out on the playoffs.
Additionally, Iyer himself radically changed his approach with the bat, going from being known as a player who tended to play an anchor role to becoming one of the most destructive batsmen in the league over the past two seasns. “It’s great recognition of what he’s done over the last three or four years really,” said Ponting on the Times of India.
“I mean, you wind the clock back three years ago of IPL cricket. He obviously captained KKR to a title there. You know, captained us, Punjab, into the final last year and did a terrific job captaining our team again this year, albeit not making it through to the qualifiers. But the thing that stands out most for me about him is how he’s conducted himself and how he’s handled himself over the last three or four years. Like there’s, I’m sure there’s probably been times when he’s felt that he probably should have been picked in a few more Indian teams that he has, but he’s always just got back to work. He’s put his head down and he’s worked really hard and he’s become a much better player now than I think he was four or five years ago.”
“I’ve been the one endorsing him for the role and telling the Indian selectors that if they give him a chance, I don’t think they’ll be disappointed. As I said, it’s a great achievement. It’s terrific recognition for the hard work he has put in over a long period of time, and I’m sure he’ll do a great job as captain of India,” Ponting added.
Ponting had worked with Iyer earlier when he was head coach of Delhi Capitals. It was the first team that Iyer had captained in the IPL. “And he’s certainly a better captain now, a better leader, and probably a more mature and more well-rounded person now. So yeah, I think it’s great recognition. I think he’ll do a terrific job.”
“And when you think of some of the other candidates, I mean, it’s full credit to him that he’s the captain now because there’s a lot of other great players in India. We know that there’s a lot of great players in that current Indian team. And that team has had great success as well over the last few years. So for them to name him as captain, I think it’s great recognition and great reward,” he said.
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