Ponting roots for Rana India debut

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes Mumbai Indians’ young lefthanded batsman Nitish Rana could be in line to make his international debut after his breakthrough IPL.

The 32-year-old began IPL10 in a blaze of runs, scoring three half-centuries in his first six innings to emerge as one of the surprise packages.

Ponting, who was in charge of Mumbai

Indians in 2015-16, believes Rana is now all set to represent India. “He’s got a very good domestic record in one-day and four-day cricket. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in an Indian T20 squad, because that’s generally what they like to do, like with Hardik Pandya; he had a few outstanding performances in the IPL (and was picked).So I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a T20 team or even a one-day team as well,” cricket.com.au quoted Ponting as saying.

As far as Test cricket is concerned, the former Australian skipper suggested that Rana would need to iron out some technical issues before making an impact on the five-day game.

“It probably might take him a little bit longer to develop his Test cricket - he’s got a few things to work on there, particularly against fast bowling ... all young Indians have the same deficiencies but I can see him continuing to improve,” he said.

Labelling Rana as a ‘good talent’, Ponting admires the way the he plays and hits the ball.

“Out of all the batsmen we had in that first year, Nitish Rana was the one I wanted the most.I loved the way he played, I loved his flair, and he hits the ball in slightly unusual areas as well.”

“He hits the ball very well over the off-side through backward point off the quicks and against the spinners he uses his feet and hits very well through the leg side. He’s a good talent,” he added.

Ponting reveals Rana missed out on earning the IPL place a bit earlier due to a surplus batting talent at the franchise. “He was probably a little unlucky not to play a little bit earlier.But we had guys like Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Jos Buttler, Kieron Pollard and these guys, and Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons opening so it was hard to fit him in.So he was unlucky,” the former Australian skipper said.

“But we unleashed him in the back end of last season and he played a couple of sensational knocks.After his first game, I could tell he was a bit nervous and was playing as if he was worried about his spot in the side,” Ponting said.