Sai Sudharsan should get backing like Zak Crawley & Ollie Pope: Ricky Ponting

Former Australian captain and commentator Ricky Ponting has backed the Indian No.3 batter Sai Sudharsan despite the Tamil Nadu batter bagging a golden duck on the fourth day of the Manchester Test.

Interestingly, this was Sudharsan’s second duck in as many Tests since his debut in the longest format of the game. While Sudharsan played the Leeds Test at No.3, he was later dropped for the Birmingham and Lord’s Tests, with Karun Nair replacing him.

Nevertheless, he made his comeback in the Manchester Test, scoring an incredible half-century in the first innings before bagging a golden duck in the second innings against Chris Woakes. However, Ponting asserted that India shouldn’t shuffle much and back the Tamil Nadu batter at No.3 position for a long time.

“It just creates internal pressure, the pressure a youngster doesn’t need or someone coming in doesn’t need looking over their shoulders on if they will get another opportunity. That’s why I was really surprised that they made the call on Sudarshan for the first Test and then went away from him and then went straight back to him,” Ponting told Sky Sports Cricket.

“For a young bloke, you want that bit of reassurance from your captain and your coaches – We are picking you now and we are going to give you a decent run at it and see how you go. I’ve got no doubt that Sudarshan is going to be good enough,” he added.

https://x.com/SkyCricket/status/1948319805812969494 

Furthermore, Ponting took the examples of Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, who got exceptional backing from England coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes despite the duo not delivering up to the mark. The former Aussie skipper wanted Gill and Gambhir to back Sudharsan in a similar fashion.

“They’ve got to show the faith in him, a lot like Brendon (McCullum) and Ben (Stokes) have done with a lot of the batters in their side – Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley. If you trust them, then you keep backing them that they are going to play these big match-winning innings for you at some stage,” Ponting reckoned.

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