Kanpur: Former Australia captain and Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting is proud of Shreyas Iyer as the batter made his Test debut for India in the first of a 2-match series against New Zealand in Kanpur.
The 26 year old batter on Thursday became India’s 303rd Test cricketer, receiving his maiden Test cap from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who addressed the team huddle on Thursday morning in Kanpur. A much-awaited Test cap that has come to Iyer after 4592 first-class runs in 54 matches at an average of 52.18. Iyer, who made his international debut in 2017, has represented India in 32 T20Is and 22 ODIs, scoring 580 at 27.61 and 813 at 42.78, respectively.
Lauding the young batter, Ponting post a heartfelt message. He wrote, “Having seen all the work you’ve put in over the last few years, very well deserved and only the beginning for you mate. Proud of you @ShreyasIyer15,” Ponting tweeted while quoting BCCI’s video.
Having seen all the work you've put in over the last few years, very well deserved and only the beginning for you mate. Proud of you @ShreyasIyer15. https://t.co/Tnb3xZNXhX
— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) November 25, 2021
As Sunil Gavaskar pointed out during the T20I series, India, under Rahul Dravid’s coaching tenure, India have brought back the long-forgotten tradition of having former cricketers give out India caps to debutants. Earlier, during the T20I series against New Zealand, Dravid had invited former bowler Ajit Agarkar to present debutant Harshal Patel with his maiden T20I cap, Iyer got his Test cap from legendary Gavaskar.
Ponting has worked closely with Iyer at Delhi Capitals. A three-time World Cup winning captain, Ponting and his partnership with Iyer was instrumental in the Capitals putting up a stellar show in IPL 2020. The 26-year-old has spent considerable time with Ponting in the last three IPL seasons as the duo took the team to heights after a bottom-table finish in 2018. Following that, the Capitals have made a hat-trick of Playoff qualifications, including their runners-up finish in the 2020 edition.
