Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes Shreyas Iyer’s recent improved play in IPL 2025 has stemmed from him being snubbed from being selected for the Indian team on their upcoming five-match Test tour of England.
Iyer recently hit an unbeaten 87 in leading Punjab Kings to a five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and set up his team’s meeting in the title clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
If PBKS manage to win the title clash, it will be their maiden IPL championship triumph. "I actually was gutted…but he’s accepted that really well and he’s moved on. He’s just got that real hunger in his eyes to do well every time that he plays for us here and wants to win games of cricket and wants to evolve and develop into the best leader and captain that he can be.
"Certain other players that have been picked in that (Test) squad have done it on the back of good first-class cricket and good IPL seasons leading up to that selection and Shreyas has done absolutely everything the same as some of those other players.
"So I was disappointed that he didn’t get picked as I actually felt that he would get picked. But he didn’t. And I think that probably makes him a little bit hungrier for us when these playoff games come around," said Ponting on The ICC Review show.
Ponting and Iyer previously combined forces at the Delhi Capitals, where the side entered the playoffs from 2019 to 2021, including an appearance in the final in 2020. "I enjoy playing a bit of a role with him as we work really well together."
"We talk a lot together about the game and tactics and, I think he said last night that he said ‘that I leave it to Ricky to look after the tactical stuff and pick the players, and then he hands it over to me and I go and execute it out on the field’.
And that’s the way we’ve worked, this year and it’s been nice to get that sort of working relationship back together again," he concluded.