Ponting equates Suryakumar Yadav to late Andrew Symonds; says SKY can win World Cup for India

Australian legend Ricky Pointing has come out in full support of out-of-form batter Suryakumar Yadav and stated the Mumbai Indians' star can win the ODI World Cup 2023 for India.

Australian legend Ricky Ponting has come out in full support of Suryakumar Yadav, who has recently struggled with his form. The Delhi Capitals Head Coach, who is busy with the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, also stated that India should stick to the Mumbai Indians star because he's the sort of player who can win you a World Cup.

"His (Suryakumar Yadav) previous 12 to 18 months have been absolutely outstanding. And everyone around the world knows what Surya can do in white-ball cricket," Ponting said on 'The ICC Review'.

The former Australian captain continued by highlighting Suryakumar's tendency for big wins and mentioning his outstanding recent T20 performance.

"I feel they should stick with him because he's the sort of player that can win you a World Cup. He might be a little bit inconsistent but he's the sort of guy that in big moments can win you games. A bit like the late great Andrew Symonds did for Australia," Ponting added.

"So that's definitely the way that I'd look at it for India. I wouldn't be playing safe. I'd be going with match-winning players and I think he's a match-winner," the Australian great said.

Ponting noted that everyone experiences a dry spell in their career and asked why his recent ODI failures were such a big deal. Since reaching his last ODI half-century in February 2022, Suryakumar has scored 172 ODI runs at a paltry average of 12.28, but Ponting pushed India to continue using the Mumbai batsman.

"Yeah, absolutely. Everyone in their career goes through something like that," Ponting noted.

"I mean, I'm not sure I have seen it before where someone's got three first-ball ducks in a row in an entire series. But look, we've all been there. You have your ups and downs as international players."