After India’s narrow six-run victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 match at New York on Sunday (June 9), Australian legend Ricky Ponting showered rich praise on India skipper Rohit Sharma, stating that the latter is very 'experienced'.
Rohit opened the batting and scored 13 runs off 12 balls with one boundary and a six. He was dismissed by Shaheen Afridi in the third over.
In a video posted on ICC's official Instagram account, Ponting hailed Rohit’s "outstanding" captaincy while defending a small total against Pakistan at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
Ponting was effusive in praise of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya’s bowling display in the all-important match.
"Rohit Sharma is a very experienced captain, isn't he? And I just saw him then and said, mate, your captaincy today was outstanding. I don't think he could have done much more. You think about a lot of the bowlers that he's got in his team. He's actually had those bowlers in the IPL as well, not only for India. So he understands them, knows when he can use them, but it's one thing for the captain to set a plan, the bowlers are going to go ahead and execute it and Bumrah was outstanding," Ponting said.
"I thought Hardik Pandya did a really good job with the ball as well, and then you break it down and this has been a wicket that the seamers have liked. But their spinners bowled four overs for 20 as well and Axar Patel picked up a big wicket. The wicket was definitely different in the second innings,” he added.
Ponting felt the wicket was different in the second innings, citing that it dried very rapidly when the sun came out.
“The wicket was definitely different in the second innings. I mean, you can see Pakistan got the ball to hold up through natural variation, and you know, it was just a little bit tacky, but when the sun came out, the wicket dried out quite quickly and then you have to, you have to adapt and adjust on the run. I thought he did that really well," he remarked.
This was India’s second consecutive victory in the ongoing T20 World Cup and they are currently leading the Group A points table.
The Rohit Sharma-led side will next face tournament co-host USA in New York on Wednesday (June 12).
