Kishan, who continues to stay part of India limited-overs setup, provides the group one other left-handed batting possibility.
“With Rishabh not being there now, they might think of maybe wanting to play a specialist left-handed batter in the middle order which I think would have to be Kishan in some role, whether that’s at No.4 or No.5.
“Look, I do suppose they will stick to him. I feel of their World Cup squad, KL will certainly be there,” Ponting said in the latest episode of ‘The ICC Review’.
“I feel Kishan ought to positively be there as properly to offer one other left-handed batting possibility as a result of if you happen to look again to sport three, they promoted Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja forward of Suryakumar Yadav due to Ashton Agar and the balls spinning away from the right-handers,” Ponting added.
Ponting feels you need to have left-handers in the middle order to negate the left-arm off-spin and right-arm leg spin options.
“Just to negate groups that have gotten left-arm off-spin as a result of once you take a look at the spinners all over the world now, there are only a few right-arm off-spinners in ODIs and T20Is.
“You need to have left-handers through your middle order. Most sides will have left-arm off-spin and right-arm leg spin and if you’ve only got right-handers through the middle order, it’s a lot harder for those guys to play it.”
“So I think they’ll go into that World Cup with the two keepers in their squad and they’ll make the decision on what they need as far as their batting is concerned,” mentioned Ponting.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com