Shreyas one of main contenders for India T20 captaincy: Ponting
Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has backed his franchise captain Shreyas Iyer to lead India in the T20 format after the team moves on from Suryakumar Yadav, saying that he is at the top of his game and never been “more mature”.
Suryakumar recently captained India to an unprecedented second World Cup title but his form has dipped drastically in the last 12 months and he has been far from his best even in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
“There are several contenders (for the captaincy job post Surya), but he’s (Shreyas Iyer) one of the main contenders as far as I’m concerned. We saw at the start of the tournament just how good a T20 player he is and where he’s at, both on and off the field right now,” the Australian legend told PTI in an interview.
“He’s a much more mature player than he’s probably ever been in his whole career. He’s completely on top of his game now,” said the batting great.
The chatter around Shreyas being the next India T20 captain has grown in recent times, even though he is not a part of the national team. Punjab Kings’ peerless run in the first half of the IPL also contributed to the buzz around him before the team dramatically lost six games in a row. But Shreyas’ record as a leader has been nothing short of impressive.
He led Kolkata Knight Riders to the trophy before moving to Punjab Kings. In his debut season with the Punjab franchise, he took the team to its first final in 11 years.
Despite the wild swing in fortunes, Punjab Kings can still make the play-offs.
Ahead of their must-win final league fixture against a down-and-out Lucknow Super Giants, Ponting said Shreyas and the team will come back.
“There are going to be times when you have your ups and downs as an individual and as a team. I’m pretty sure he’ll bounce back in this last game that we’ve got. If he stands up and makes a big score, then have a good chance of winning the game,” Ponting said.
Having been the leader of the invincible Australian outfit of the early 2000s, Ponting said Shreyas not being part of the Indian T20 setup is surprising.
“Whenever India selects a team, and Sheryas is not in it, I’m always very surprised. On the back of this IPL, I’m sure he’s one name the selectors will talk about, not just to get back into the side, but also with the captaincy next to his name.
“The thing about Indian cricket is that you don’t just walk back into teams. You’ve got to put a lot of runs on the board and do it in a certain way. His season so far has been very impressive, and his captaincy has been excellent.
“He’s in that little sweet spot in his life and career where, if captaincy came his way, then I think he’d make the most of it,” said Ponting.
No off-field things to worry about: With the team’s campaign on a downward spiral, it has faced plenty of criticism on social media for certain off-the-field incidents but that negative chatter has not reached the dressing room, asserted Ponting.
“There haven’t been any off-field things that I’ve had to worry about as a coach. We’ve managed everything the way we need to manage as a team.
“There’s so much social media out there that one little headline turns into a big story, but that doesn’t affect us. We know what we need to do as players to win games of cricket, and we push on with that.
“...if we qualify, then all this negativity out there about us will go away,” said Ponting.
Following a hat trick of losses in Dharamsala, the team flew to Delhi for couple of nights and will be travelling to Lucknow on Wednesday night.
We need to think about how good we were: Ponting said he has allowed the players a small break post the defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, holding his pep talk for until after they reach Lucknow.
“It’s pretty simple for us. We’ve got to get back to believing in just how good we are and remember the way we played in our first six or seven games of the season. We need to hold on to those thoughts and memories instead of fearing failure or worrying about not having success.
“At our best, we’ve been the most fearless team in the tournament. We’ve been daring...That’s what I’ll be talking about again and making sure we bring those things into the game against Lucknow on Sunday,” he said.
On the extreme highs and lows experienced in the tournament, Ponting added, “The first part was probably some of the best T20 cricket that I’ve ever seen from any team that I’ve been around. The team was breaking records left, right and centre, playing a really high-quality style of cricket.”
“It was a high-impact, high-risk style, and it worked really well for us at the start. But as you know, in an IPL where all teams are very even, you can’t afford to be off by even a couple of per cent in any aspect of the game. Over the last six games, we’ve probably just been a little off in most aspects of our game.”
