WTC Final: Ricky Ponting believes Hardik Pandya could have been 'valuable' addition for India
May 31, 2023
London [UK], May 31 : Former Australian cricket icon Ricky Ponting feels that India should have picked Hardik Pandya in their squad for the World Test Championship 2023 against Australia in London from June 7.
In the latest episode of ICC Review, Ponting stated that Panday's all-around capabilities could have helped India in the one-off game. "...I thought about the other day for India in this game is how valuable someone like Hardik Pandya could be in a one-off Test match,"
"I know he is on record saying that the Test match game is probably a little bit hard on his body. But for a one-off game... he's been bowling every game through this IPL and he's bowling quick," Ponting said in the latest episode of ICC Review.
"He (Pandya) could be that X-factor there just to pick in a one-off game, come in and see what he can do with bat and ball. He could be the difference between the two teams," he added.
Pandya has played in 11 tests since making his debut in 2017. He has scored 532 runs at an average of 31.29. The 29-year-old has one hundred and four half centuries to his name.
Pandya has taken 17 wickets in 11 test matches at an average of 31.05.
In 74 ODIs matches, Pandya has scored 1584 runs at an average of 33.00 and taken 72 wickets and in the T20Is, he has scored a total of 1271 runs in 87 matches and has 69 wickets to his name.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Ishan Kishan (wk).
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar and Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc and David Warner.
Standby players: Mitch Marsh and Matthew Renshaw.
