New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has hailed India as the greatest white-ball team ever assembled after they became the first men’s side to successfully defend the T20 World Cup title with an emphatic 96-run win over New Zealand in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Ponting said India’s unbeaten run across ICC events since the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup and the 2025 ICC Men’s Champions Trophy – interrupted only by a Super Eights defeat to South Africa in this year’s T20 World Cup — spoke to a consistency no other side in the modern era had matched.

“It’s really hard to argue a point against that. 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. This is a very, very strong Indian white-ball team, not just a T20 team. Back-to-back World Cups, hats off to them,” said Ponting on The ICC Review show.

He also felt the sheer volume of high-pressure cricket India had absorbed, both on the international stage and through the Indian Premier League (IPL), led to the creation of a team uniquely equipped for excelling in 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. 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,” he added.

Ponting further felt the setback in the Super Eights stage against South Africa arrived at the ideal moment and may ultimately have strengthened India’s resolve. “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. They would have learned from that experience and won’t take things for granted.

“Maybe it just allowed them to regroup, get together, and talk about the things that are important to them as a team. They solidified what they felt was their strongest playing XI and didn’t make many changes at the back end of the tournament,” he concluded.

–IANS

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