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'Have him as floater. He will be exceptionally dangerous': Ponting backs 'outstanding' India youngster for T20 World Cup
The youngster was identified as a future leader alongside KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah after Virat Kohli stood down from the captaincy.
In hunt for elusive IPL title, Delhi Capitals missed out on the playoffs spot by a whisker after losing to Mumbai Indians in crucial league-stage fixture. Capitals let go of their chances as skipper and stumper Rishabh Pant failed to take a review and dropped a catch as well. Cut to the present, the young left-handed batter is leading India after KL Rahul was ruled out of the five-game Twenty20 series against South Africa. (Also Read | 'Lot of things were said before my comeback. I got up at 5am, made sacrifices': India star reveals 'battle' before IPL)
Pant made his captaincy debut and smashed 29 off 16 balls, albeit in a losing cause in the series opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. The 24-year-old has got the reputation of wearing his heart on his sleeve and Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting has backed him as a "floater" for this year's T20 World Cup. The former Aussie leader believes Pant will be "exceptionally dangerous" on "fast and bouncy" wickets in Australia.
"He (Pant) is a wonderful player. An outstanding young man, who has got the world at his feet. And he'll be exceptionally dangerous for India, especially on the wickets we'll provide in Australia…. good flat, fast, bouncy wickets. He'll be one of the players to watch out (for) in the tournament (World T20) for sure,” Ponting said on 'ICC Review'.
"I reckon having him as a floater. I'll probably have him listed at (number) five in the (Indian) batting line-up.
"But in certain situations, where it gets to a stage, where there are seven-eight overs to go and they are one-two down, then I will look at sending him in and giving as much time as possibly can. He is that dynamic and that explosive (player) and that is certainly the way I would look at trying to use him," Ponting further added.
Ponting had also backed Pant as Delhi captain despite his blunders costing the team a top-four finish. The youngster was identified as a future leader alongside Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah after Virat Kohli stood down from the leadership role.
In the just-concluded IPL, Pant gathered just 340 runs from 14 games with an average of 30.91. Ponting revealed that the Indian was "frustrated" with his IPL performance.
"He probably didn't have his best tournament (IPL). He was really frustrated with his IPL this year because he went into the tournament batting better than I've ever seen him bat before.
"And even by his own admission, he said the same thing to me, half-way through the tournament that he didn't feel he was getting results that he probably should have and that he probably deserved," Ponting further said.
