Ricky Ponting lauds Arshdeep Singh ahead of IND vs NAM T20 World Cup 2026 match

Fomer Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has showered praise on Arshdeep Singh ahead of the T20 World Cup clash against Namibia. Singh has been India’s most successful T20I bowler and he has delivered consistently at both ends of the innings.

The left-arm seamer returned with impressive figures of 2-18 in his quota of four overs in the team’s opening clash against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. Thus, he played an instrumental role in restricting the Americans to 132 after India posted a decent score of 161 runs on the board.

Ponting, the two-time World Cup winning captain, said Singh has developed a new slow ball in his rich arsenal, which was on display against the USA.

“One thing I did notice last night is actually he’s developed in his bowling a different slow ball than he usually has. He bowled like almost one that rolled out the side of his fingers yesterday like a little in-swinger type ball to a left-hander which will obviously swing a little bit across the right-hander as well. So that’s a new skill that he’s added,” he said on the ICC Review Podcast.

The former Australian captain said Singh deserves his place in the starting XI as he has performed consistently for the team in the shortest format.

“He’s a highly skilled bowler anyway. Ravi mentioned it, the fastest 100 T20 wickets, that speaks volumes for what he can do with the new ball and with the old ball. And he’s very much, like all fast bowlers, really very much a confidence and rhythm bowler. You can see, you know, you can pretty much see with Arshdeep in his run-up. You know if he’s on with the way that he’s attacking the crease and how hard he’s hitting the crease. And yeah, the skills are all there. You know, the in-swinger to the right-hand is there. The out-swinger to the right-hand is there. The around-the-wicket variations are there for him. His yorkers are as good as anybody. So he very much deserves his place in this Indian starting XI,” he said.

India will next take on Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday.