Australian great Ricky Ponting will pick Arshdeep Singh over Harshit Rana for India's Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh here on Thursday with the Rohit Sharma-led side hoping to fill the huge void left by injured pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Rana has done alright in the chances he has got ahead of the ICC event but Ponting feels the left-arm pacer Arshdeep is better suited to bowl in all phases of the 50-over game. "I would go with the left-armer and I'd go with Arshdeep (to replace Bumrah)," Ponting said on The ICC Review.
"We know how good he's been in T20 cricket and if you think about the skill set, he probably provides a similar skill set to what Bumrah does with new ball and death overs and that's what India will miss.
"That's taking nothing away from Harshit Rana because I think he has got a lot of talent and we know what he can do with the new ball, but I don't think his death skills are as good as what Arshdeep Singh's are." The former Australian captain feels the presence of a left-arm fast bowler in the playing eleven is always "crucial".
"And just that left-arm variation, someone that can bowl left-arm with a new ball and move the new ball. We know how important they are and crucial they can be, especially in big tournaments when you've got a lot of right-handers at the top. I would personally lean that way if I was India." Ponting added that the likes of Rohit and Virat Kohli getting back amongst in the preceding ODI series against England augurs well for India.
“It's great to see Shreyas Iyer back in the team and playing well in the middle order. He was great," he said.
“More importantly for India, (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) were back scoring runs and that's what they need going into big tournaments.
"Rohit, Virat, your experienced players, you need them to stand up in the big tournaments in the big moments. So, everything for India right now, with the exception of the loss of Bumrah, everything else looks in good order.”
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