“Deserves to be the No. 1 ranked batter” - Ricky Ponting’s huge praise for Indian star ahead of IND vs PAK 2025 Champions Trophy match
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has hailed India batter Shubman Gill's recent form, which led him to overthrow Babar Azam and be crowned the No. 1 ICC batter in ODIs. The opener scored a match-winning hundred (101*) in the 2025 Champions Trophy Group A clash against Bangladesh on February 20. He has crossed the 50-run mark in each of his last four innings.
Gill had also scored a sublime hundred (112) in the third ODI against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium on February 12 to head into the ICC event with some serious momentum. The right-handed batter helped India navigate through a tricky phase in their opening match of the ICC event and was adjudged the Player of the Match for his efforts.
Ricky Ponting opined that Gill's recent reach to the summit in the ODI rankings was justified and merited.
“He thoroughly deserves to be the number one ranked batsman in the world at the moment and it's a great sign for India that he's got his account underway early in the first game of a Champions Trophy,” he said on ICC Review.
“He's been a very, very good international player for a number of years. He hasn't sort of transferred that over into Test Match cricket yet, but his white ball cricket over the last three or four years has been outstanding. Look, he's a big game player as well. He's played really well in IPLs over the last couple of years, obviously being captain of his franchise there," Ponting added.
Gill has been struggling in the red-ball format for a while now, with inconsistent returns in his new role at No. 3. He had a forgettable Border-Gavaskar series campaign against Australia but found rhythm almost immediately in the ODI format.
"I just think that the white ball game really suits his style of play" - Ricky Ponting on Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill had a poor maiden ODI series in 2019 in New Zealand but has not turned back since his comeback in the format in 2022. His consistent run-scoring kept veteran Shikhar Dhawan out of the side, and as of now, Gill is one of the first names on the team sheet. He is also the vice-captain for Team India.
The batter has scored 2688 runs in 51 ODI innings at an average of 62.51, including eight hundreds.
In the same interview, Ponting explained how the ODI format was tailor-made for Gill's style of batting, where he could take on the bowlers in the powerplay and use the foundation to pace his innings.
“I just think that the white ball game really suits his style of play. One day cricket, he can come out and be nice and aggressive early on in the power play with the field up, get some boundaries away early by playing good, naturally aggressive cricketing shots," Ponting elaborated.
“He's not a big hitter, he's not anyone that goes out there and tries to do anything outside of the way that he can naturally play. He just scores, he scores boundaries almost at will against fast bowling, against the white ball," he added.
Team India will next face Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 group stage. The high-octane match is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 23, at the Dubai International Stadium.