India made the wrong choice, says Ricky Ponting on Rishabh Pant's World Cup omission

Days after being left out of India’s World Cup squad, Rishabh Pant, on Monday, once again showed his immense potential by blowing away the Rajasthan Royals (RR). The youngster played a match-winning knock as the Delhi Capitals (DC) crushed the Royals by six wickets to inch closer to a playoff spot. Impressed with Pant’s display with the bat in hand, Delhi coach Ricky Ponting said that India committed a mistake by not picking the wicketkeeper-batsman in the World Cup squad.

Pant was one of the most notable omission from India’s squad for the tournament. Instead of picking the highly-talented but relatively inexperienced Pant, the selectors went for seasoned campaigner Dinesh Karthik. However, MSK Prasad and his colleagues might rue leaving out Pant after seeing his heroics against Royals. Chasing a mammoth total of 192, Delhi never looked in trouble thanks to Pant.

After Shikhar Dhawan’s blazing fifty set the tone for the chase, Pant took the onus on himself. He blasted an unbeaten 78 from just 36 deliveries to help Delhi cross the line with four balls remaining. The win was Delhi’s seventh of the season as they moved to the top of the points table. After the game, Ponting revealed that Pant was disappointed after being not named in the World Cup squad. Ponting also said that Pant would have been “absolutely devastating” in the English conditions during the middle-overs.

“I know how disappointed he was to miss out on the World Cup. In my opinion, as well, I think India made the wrong choice there. I think he would have been absolutely devastating in English conditions through those middle over against spinners,” Ricky Ponting told Star Sports.

“Would have loved to see what he could have done in the World Cup. As I said at the time he was left out, he’s got the potential to play three or four more World Cups if he keeps himself fit and healthy. Someone as explosive as Rishabh likes a bit more pace on the ball. And we saw that tonight. Once he gets those sort of wickets he’s lethal. He got a wicket like that in Mumbai and he hit 70-odd off 20-odd balls,” added Ponting.

Praise for youngsters:

Ricky Ponting also had some words of praise for other youngsters of the team – Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer. “There are some awesome young talents. The average age of group is about 25. Guys like Prithvi and Pant and to an extend Shreyas, they are just kids and to a certain degree, they are learning a bit about the game and bit of themselves.

Rishabh himself, he is on a different planet. He is an ultra-talented guy. He is a real competitor and a winner. He loves these conditions. Some really good signs there going forward in the tournament,” said Ponting.

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