Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has a penchant for spotting world-class players. He recently made headlines as the head coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals (DC), who marched to the top of the points table before the T20 extravaganza was suspended due to a rise in coronavirus cases.
The two-times ODI World Cup-winning captain toiled hard with a rising Indian star Prithvi Shaw to get immaculate performances out of him for Rishabh Pant & Co.
Recently, Ponting shared his views about the 2021 T20 World Cup slated to played in October and expressed that the lack of a wicketkeeper-batsman might be haunting the Aussie team.
“The keeper-batsman is probably the slot they’d be losing the most sleep over right now,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Saturday.
Australia have picked wicketkeeper batsman Alex Carey, Josh Phillipe and Matthew Wade in the preliminary 23-man squad for the upcoming five-match T20 series and three ODIs against West Indies.
Reflecting on the same, Ponting pointed out that all the three squad members had been tried, but none could cement his place in the side. The 46-year-old suggested that the Perth Scorchers’ wicket keeper-batter Josh Inglis should don the gloves for the national side as he had performed phenomenally with the bat during the 10th edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) last year.
“They have tried a few blokes — Wade has been there, Phillipe has just played as a batter, Alex Carey has been in and out and tried in a few different batting spots. Josh Inglis’s name could be thrown into the ring as well — I really liked what I saw from him batting in the middle order in last summer’s BBL,” Tasmania born added.
Expounding his choice, Ponting asserted that the T20 World Cup would be held either in India or United Arab Emirates (UAE) which have spin-friendly tracks. Therefore, Inglis is the most suitable candidate for the keepers job.
“He plays spin really well and you think about where the World Cup is going to be (in India or the UAE), he could be a name that could come up (for selection),” the former Australia coaching assistant concluded.
