Ponting touts India as strongest-ever T20I team post T20WC win
ICC Hall of Famer has praised the depth, experience and balance of the current Indian side following a dominant campaign to retain the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title.
An emphatic 96-run win in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad against New Zealand helped India become the first men’s team to successfully defend the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title and win it on home soil.
Reflecting on India’s recent success across white-ball ICC events, Ricky Ponting believes the team’s consistency and experience have set them apart, making them the strongest India side.
“It’s really hard to argue a point against that,” Ponting said on the ICC Review when asked if the current Indian group is the strongest ever assembled in T20I cricket.
“If you look at this, not just the T20I team but their white-ball record in ICC events over the last five or six years, it’s quite remarkable.
“A lot of people probably identified before this tournament started the depth and the strength that this current Indian team had, and also the experience that they have.”
For Ponting, the triumph is the culmination of years of building a squad capable of dominating global white-ball tournaments, as they have done, going unbeaten in ICC events since the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup and the 2025 ICC Men’s Champions Trophy - before a loss to South Africa in the Super Eights in the 2026 T20 World Cup.
“This is a very, very strong Indian white-ball team, not just a T20 team. Back-to-back World Cups, hats off to them,” Ponting added.
The former Australia skipper highlighted that the squad's volume of high-pressure cricket, both internationally and in the Indian Premier League, has helped shape a team built for major tournaments.
“The one thing that’s probably overlooked with this current team is the amount of experience and the amount of cricket a lot of these guys have played, whether it’s international cricket or even just the IPL,” he said.
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“The IPL games are every bit as big as international games anyway, so this Indian team came in well primed with great balance and a great squad.”
Despite their overall dominance, India suffered a setback midway through the tournament when they were beaten by South Africa in the Super Eight stage in Ahmedabad by 76 runs.
Rather than seeing the loss as a negative, Ponting believes it came at the perfect moment.
“You win 12 matches on the trot, there’s bound to be an off day. And I am glad it’s come early. It might just be the shake-up India needed,” he noted.
“They would have learned from that experience and won’t take things for granted.”
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The loss was followed by India setting targets of 250+ in 3 out of their 4 remaining fixtures – including the semi-final and the final – solidifying their playing XI for the business end of the tournament.
“Maybe it just allowed them to regroup, get together, and talk about the things that are important to them as a team,” he added.
“They solidified what they felt was their strongest playing XI and didn’t make many changes at the back end of the tournament.”
India’s campaign was marked by aggressive batting and a balanced bowling attack, with the team producing high-scoring performances in the knockout stages before sealing a comprehensive victory in the final against New Zealand.
