World Cup 2023: They are going to be a team to beat – Ricky Ponting feels it will be extremely hard to defeat India

Former Australian Ricky Ponting feels India will be extremely difficult to beat in the ongoing World Cup. India has got off to a perfect start in the ongoing ODI showpiece, winning all of their three matches. The Rohit Sharma-led registered a six-wicket win against Australia in their opening game whereas they thrashed Afghanistan by eight wickets at Delhi.

India continued their good show against arch-rivals Pakistan, beating them convincingly by seven wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. However, Ponting said it will be interesting to note how India will handle pressure in crunch situations of the big matches.

India has been consistently making it to the knockout stages of the big events but they have failed to cross the last hurdle.

“I said from the start that I think they’re going to be the team to beat. They’ve got a very talented team. They’ve got all bases covered with their fast bowling, their spin and their top-order, middle-order batting. They’re going to be extremely hard to beat. But we’ll see how they hold up under extreme pressure as well,” Ricky Ponting said while talking to the ICC.

On the other hand, Ponting also compared Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli’s style of leadership. The former Australian batter feels Rohit is better suited for the captaincy role than Virat as the latter wears his heart on his sleeve.

“He’s very laid back, Rohit. Very laid back with everything he does. You can even see that by the way that he plays. He’s a pretty laconic sort of batsman as well, and that’s the way he is both on and off the field,” Ponting explained.

“We can’t sit back and say that the pressure won’t get to them at some stage, or it won’t affect them, because it will, just with the enormity of the tournament. But he’ll take it and cope with it as well as probably anyone,” the former cricketer added.

Rohit Sharma has done a fine job as a leader of the team and led from the front in the three matches so far. After registering a duck against Australia, Rohit scored 131 and 86 against Afghanistan and Pakistan respectively.

“Someone like Virat, who is a bit more heart-on-the-sleeve, and probably listens to the fans and plays up with the fans a little bit more, someone with his personality would probably find it a bit harder. But I think Rohit will be fine with it. He’s a terrific bloke and has been a great player for a long time, and he’s done a great job as leader of India,” he elaborated.

India will next take on Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Thursday.