Dubai [UAE], April 7 : Australia legend Ricky Ponting has revealed what he would do with out-of-form white-ball star Suryakumar Yadav and the rest of India's much-vaunted batting line-up if he was in charge of selecting their squad for this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
There are still a few openings in India's top six for the 50-over showcase that is slated to take place later this year, even though skipper Rohit Sharma, up-and-coming opener Shubman Gill, and veteran batter Virat Kohli are anticipated to fill the crucial spots.
During their recent ODI series loss at home against Australia, India's middle-order issues were on full display. Suryakumar especially struggled, setting an unfavourable record by being removed for golden ducks in three straight 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 said in the latest episode of 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," he added.
The former Australia captain continued by highlighting Suryakumar's tendency for big wins and mentioning his outstanding recent T20 performance.
"His previous 12 or 18 months have been absolutely outstanding. And everyone around the world knows what Surya can do in white-ball cricket. 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," Ponting noted.
"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" he added.
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," the former Australia captain said.
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