Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has spoken about being impressed with Ajinkya Rahane’s return to red-ball format for India as his brilliant knock of 89 runs, kept India in the game against Australia in the ongoing ICC WTC 2023 Final being played at the Oval.
Rahane ended a 17-month exile, after being named in Indian XI for this summit clash against Australia. This is on the back of an excellent IPL 2023 and domestic performances for Mumbai. He also benefitted from injuries to KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer.
The stylish No.5 took his chance with both hands to top-score with 89 during India's first innings in London and Ponting thinks the 35-year-old showed enough to ensure he wins selection for the upcoming series in the Caribbean against the West Indies and beyond.
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"He has made the most of his opportunity and that is all you can do. I think there are two more Test matches in the West Indies after this before Rahul and Iyer are back, so he has got a real opportunity to prolong his Test career for another couple of years,” Ponting told ICC.
Ponting has seen Rahane from close quarters as the former India Test vice-captain played for Delhi Capitals for two years under Ponting’s tutelage.
"He is a lovely guy and a mild-mannered guy and someone who is one of the most disciplined cricketers I have ever worked with. He is always the first one at training and he is always the first one at the gym doing his recovery and rehab.
I am really happy to see him back out there and playing and when you see him play like that (against Australia) you just wonder why he hasn't been in this India team for the last couple of years. Isn’t it amazing how in this modern game. He probably got back into this Indian Test team on the back of some performances in the IPL, so well played to him,” Ponting said.
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After this WTC 2023 final, India will begin their new World Test Championship (2023-25) sojourn against the West Indies next month. And Ponting thinks the Indian selectors will have a dilemma of sorts on their hands when deciding how to fit their plethora of batting stars into their XI.
Rahul and Iyer are still recovering from their respective surgeries and young Ishan Kishan is waiting for his chance at Test level.
"I am lucky that I am not an India selector because that is a difficult decision. It might even come down to condition-based selection, but that is the case that is a really good sign for India,” Ponting signed off.
(ICC inputs)
