Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting reckons established Indian players such as Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma are not likely to be displaced from the team, despite the vast pool of talent in the country.

The likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Venkatesh Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Avesh Khan, among others are knocking on the doors with their performances lately, but Ponting feels the senior players cannot be pushed out of the squad.

“They (India) had Ishan Kishan and Suryakymar Yadav in the squad, they are starting to bring a few younger guys in. Shreyas Iyer, he was one of the emergencies [sic] around the squad but you are not going to push Rohit Sharma out, Virat out, or KL Rahul out,” Ponting said in a conversation with Grade Cricketer.

According to Ponting, the abundance of talent has resulted in a problem of plenty for India. He pointed out that the questions are bound to raise whenever a senior player fails to perform.

“They have got Hardik Pandya in there, maybe if he’s not bowling, they can use one of those younger blokes in the middle order but yeah there’s just so many of them. So many good young players that when one of their senior guys doesn’t go well you think ‘Better put these young blokes in’ but yeah, they have got too many that’s why these questions come up,” he said.

During the recently held T20 World Cup, Team India failed to qualify for the semi-final. The Virat Kohli-led side suffered heavy defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12 stage before bouncing back to register wins over Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia. However, it wasn’t enough for them to seal a place in the top four.

Commenting on India’s underwhelming campaign, Ponting said: “Yeah, I think, they were just exhausted. I mean, their run, what they have had – you’ve got to understand where they have been.”