Out-of-form India star gets Ponting's backing for World Cup spot

While skipper Rohit Sharma, emerging opener Shubman Gill and veteran batter Virat Kohli are expected to fill the vital spots in India's top order, there are still at least a couple of places up for grabs in their top six for the 50-over showcase that is scheduled to be held later this year.

India’s middle-order woes came to the fore during their recent ODI series loss at home against Australia, with Suryakumar, in particular, failing to fire as he picked up the unwanted record of being dismissed for golden ducks in three consecutive innings.

Suryakumar has scored 172 ODI runs at an average of just 12.28 since his last ODI half-century in February 2022, but Ponting has urged India to stick with the Mumbai batter despite his bleak recent run.

"Yeah, absolutely. Everyone in their career goes through something like that," Ponting told host Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.

"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."

The former Australia skipper went on to mark out Suryakumar’s propensity to win big games, and referred to his exceptional run in the T20 format in recent times.

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

"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 definitely 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."

Ponting also believed that the player could be best utilised at the number five spot.

"I think he was only batting at five, wasn't he? I don't think they want him much lower than that, especially when they've got Hardik (Pandya), (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar (Patel), they've got plenty of batting,” Ponting noted

"I'm a big believer in giving your best batter as much time as you can in all formats of the game. Because if you keep them down the order, quite often you don't get to use your best players and that's the last thing you want. So I think the No.5 slot's perfect for him and he's just got to grow into that role there."

There was speculation around who’d take gloves for the side after star keeper Rishabh Pant’s unfortunate accident ruled him out of cricketing action for several months.

While KL Rahul has donned the role in recent ODIs, Ishan Kishan continues to remain a part of the India limited-overs setup.

Ponting believes India will have space for both players in their World Cup squad, backing Kishan as a necessary option given he is a left-handed batter.

"Look, I do think they'll stick with him. I think in their World Cup squad, KL will definitely be there,” Ponting said.

“I think Ishan Kishan should definitely be there as well to give another left-handed batting option because if you look back to game three, they promoted Axar and Jadeja ahead of Surya because of Ashton Agar and the balls spinning away from the right-handers.

"With Rishabh not being there now, they might think of maybe wanting to play a specialist left-handed batter in the middle order which I think would have to be Ishan Kishan in some role, whether that's at No.4 or No.5.

"Just to negate teams that have got left-arm off-spin because when you look at the spinners around the world now, there are very few right-arm off-spinners in ODIs and T20Is.

"You need to have left-handers through your middle order. Most sides will have left-arm off-spin and right-arm leg spin and if you've only got right-handers through the middle order, it's a lot harder for those guys to play it.”

"So I think they'll go into that World Cup with the two keepers in their squad and they'll make the decision on what they need as far as their batting is concerned."