Former Australian cricketer, Ricky Ponting has been involved with Indian cricket for a while now and has closely worked with the likes of Shreyas Iyer at the Delhi Capitals. He knows how the current KKR captain can turn the tide around and in a recent remark was pretty positive about the fact that India was not thinking of Suryakumar Yadav for their middle-order reinforcement.
The premier T20I batter, Suryakumar Yadav made his debut for India in Test cricket in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the opening Test match of the series but couldn’t really get the ball rolling his stride. Ponting, however, believes that it was just a matter of time before SKY was going to be put to the blade.
In the ICC Review Podcast, Ponting said, “No, I don’t think he was unlucky. Yes, he played 1 Test but that was because they (India) were waiting for Shreyas Iyer to come back into full fitness. If you look at what Shreyas has done over the last 12 months in Test match cricket, particularly at home it’s been outstanding. So, unlucky for Surya to miss out but it was because a fit Shreyas Iyer had to come back into the middle order so. I have got no doubt that his time will come. Surya, his time will come as far as Test cricket is concerned.”
He further added, “I certainly haven’t pigeonholed him as a white-ball player only. I think the skill is being on display in the white-ball game and I have no doubt that he can transfer that into Test match cricket and probably in different conditions as well. I think he is one of those guys who are skilful enough to be able to play well and adapt in most conditions. If a spot opens up again in that middle-order, then I certainly would not be riding him off.”
