"Someone like Khaleel Ahmed could find himself on the Test tour" - Ponting backs left-arm pacer to make it to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed to make it to the Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the end of the year. The two have worked closely in the Delhi Capitals (DC) setup until Ponting was relieved of his duties after the end of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign.
Khaleel is yet to make his red-ball debut for India but has been touted as a valuable prospect, being one of the rare consistent left-arm seamers in the country. He has played 12 first-class matches in his career, picking up 25 wickets at an average of 35.
The left-arm pacer was a traveling reserve for Team India during the 2024 T20 World Cup and recently played the T20I series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka away from home.
"Someone like Khaleel Ahmed I think could find himself on the Test tour. A left-armer would be ideal for them to have in their touring squad. I know he's just been over in Zimbabwe recently and played that (T20I) series over there, but a left-armer would be ideal for them to have in their touring squad," Ponting said on the most recent edition of the ICC Review.
India are reportedly keen on having a left-arm seamer on tour, with Arshdeep Singh also being in consideration to feature in Tests.
"Probably the only one question there might be with Australia again" - Ricky Ponting on Steve Smith opening the innings
Australia were forced to conduct a shuffle in their batting order following opening batter David Warner's retirement from Test cricket. To keep Cameron Green in the side, Australia decided against bringing in a specialist opener from the domestic circuit and instead chose to promote Steve Smith up the order.
The ace batter has had a mixed start while opening the innings, scoring 171 runs in four matches at an average of 28, with a solitary fifty to his name.
"Probably the only one question there might be with Australia again, is if (Steve) Smith's the right man to be opening the batting. That would be the only query that I can see there. But that was all about obviously bringing Cameron Green back into the side," Ponting opined in the same interaction.
"So I'll rephrase it, not whether Smith's the right man to open the batting but whether he thinks it's the right spot for him. Because I think if he doesn't think it's the right spot then they'll make a change and get someone else back up there," Ponting added
Several opening batters like Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft, and Matt Renshaw continue to wait anxiously on the sidelines as Australia continues their experiment with Smith up the order.