Ricky Ponting has showered accolades on India’s new star Shubman Gill, whose sensational form has seen him become the number one ranked batsman in the ICC ODI rankings ahead of Pakistan’s Babar Azam. The young Indian opener has been in sensational form, and he reinforced his supremacy with a match-winning century (101*) against Bangladesh in India’s Champions Trophy opener on February 20.
Gill’s knock was more than a mere hundred—it was his fourth back-to-back 50+ strike, cementing his status as one of today’s most dependable batters in the sport. His current trend had already witnessed action at Narendra Modi Stadium where he hammered 112 runs from England on 12th February, going into the ICC event with confidence and resolve.
His performance against Bangladesh was the key to leading India through a challenging chase, for which he received the Player of the Match award. Ricky Ponting feels Gill’s achievement of No.1 ranking is well merited.
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“He thoroughly deserves to be the number one ranked batsman in the world right now. It’s a great sign for India that he’s got his account underway early in the first game of a Champions Trophy,” Ricky Ponting told ICC Review.
While acknowledging Gill’s brilliance in limited-overs cricket, Ponting pointed out that his Test performances have yet to match his white-ball exploits. “He’s been a very, very good international player for several years. His white-ball cricket over the last three or four years has been outstanding,” he remarked.
Ricky Ponting also pointed out what makes Gill successful in ODIs. “One-day cricket enables him to be aggressive at the start of the powerplay when the field is up,” he explained. “He plays good, natural shots and gets boundaries at will,” he further added.
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As India’s vice-captain at the moment, Gill has scored a whopping 2,688 runs in only 51 ODIs with an eye-watering average of 62.51, eight tons to his credit. As India prepares for their highly anticipated showdown against arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23 at the Dubai International Stadium, everyone’s eyes will be on Gill to produce another masterclass.
