New Delhi: Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is defined Indian national cricket team After their dominant victory in the T20 World Cup 2026, the current Indian team has been hailed as one of the strongest T20 teams ever. India won their third T20 World Cup title by defeating the New Zealand national cricket team by 96 runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The win also made India the first team to successfully defend the T20 World Cup.
Ponting praised India’s depth and consistency.
Ponting highlighted India’s impressive performance in recent ICC tournaments and their strong record in white-ball cricket. According to him, the combination of talent, experience and depth in the team makes them very difficult to beat.“It’s really hard to argue a point against him. If you look at it, not just the T20I team but their white-ball record in ICC events over the last five or six years, it’s quite remarkable,” Ponting said on the International Cricket Council’s The ICC Review.“Before this tournament started many people pointed out the depth and strength that this current Indian team had, and also that they have experience.“This is a very, very strong Indian white-ball team, not just a T20 team. Back-to-back World Cups, kudos to them.”
Experience and impact of IPL
The former Australian captain believes that the experience of the players in international cricket and Indian Premier League It has helped them to handle stressful situations better.“One thing that has probably been overlooked with this current team is the amount of experience and the amount of cricket these guys have played, whether it’s international cricket or just the IPL,” said Ponting, who is also the Punjab Kings head coach.“IPL games are as big as international games anyway, so this Indian team came out well with the best balance and the best squad.”
Learning from a rare failure
India suffered a defeat against the South African national cricket team during the Super Eights stage, but Ponting felt that the loss actually helped the team refocus.“You win 12 matches in a row, there’s bound to be an off-day. And I’m glad it’s come early. It just needs to shake India up,” he said. “They will have learned from this experience and will not take things for granted.”After this defeat, India bounced back strongly with powerful batting displays, scoring more than 250 runs in three matches, including the semi-final and the final.“Perhaps it allowed them to regroup, come together and talk about things that are important to them as a team,” Ponting added. “They reinforced what they felt was their strongest playing XI and didn’t make too many changes at the back end of the tournament.”
