“He plays all of his shots like Travis Head” - Ricky Ponting backs Suryakumar Yadav to find form ahead of the ICC T20 WC 2026

Former Australian captain and commentator Ricky Ponting defended Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, urging him to regain his form ahead of the much-awaited ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to start on Saturday, February 7, in India and Sri Lanka.

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For the unversed, in 2025, Surya could score only 218 runs in 19 innings at an average of 13.62, with a modest strike rate of 123.16. Interestingly, his highest score in 2025 was the unbeaten 47-run knock against Pakistan.

"That is as big a surprise for me, just looking at his recent form. He is such a solid and consistent contributor for India in T20 cricket for a long time and just hasn't been able to find it of late,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.

"He is an interesting one because when I have seen him play his best, he has taken six or eight or 10 balls to get going and then just lets it all go," he added.

"He plays all of his shots and backs himself, and a bit like Travis Head, where it almost looks like they don't ever fear getting out. That's what I would say to him. I would be saying, think about scoring runs, do not think about getting out,” he stated.

"Trust yourself, back yourself. You are proven to be as good as anybody in the world in the T20 format and go and prove it to everybody once again," he concluded.

For the unversed, Team India is placed in Group A alongside Namibia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and the United States and will commence its campaign against the USA on February 7 in Mumbai.

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India's squad for T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vice-capt), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wk).

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