IPL 2025: Indian cricketer Shreyas Iyer has heaped praise on Ricky Ponting, by stating that the Australian legend's backing he received back in the days helped him gain a confidence boost.
Iyer, who recently won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, told media that Ricky Ponting made him feel like a 'great player', and that, he supports everyone.
He supports everyone. When I worked with him for the first time in the past. He made me feel like I am a great player and I can easily excel in this format. The confidence he gives a player is of a different level.
READ HERE: 'Be Your Own Sugar Daddy': Pic Of Chahal's T-shirt During Final Divorce Hearing Viral
Ricky Ponting's vision met reality, and it turned out to be true, as Shreyas Iyer ended up being the highest run-scorer for India at the mega event.
"He's got the game that will stand up to the white-ball formats, especially in that part of the world. We know how good a hitter of spin bowling he is and teams tend not to bowl a lot of spin at India. But at some stage it's going to come. (And) if Shreyas is out in the middle, then he's as good as anyone," said Ricky Ponting before the start of ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Ricky Ponting Calls Shreyas Iyer 'Natural Leader'
Speaking to media ahead of the IPL 2025 season, Punjab Kings head coach called Shreyas Iyer a 'natural leader' and a 'great human being', as the latter gears up for T20 action.
"He's a great human being. He is an IPL-winning captain (with KKR in 2024). We could not have asked for more,” Ponting said during the media interaction. He has only joined the camp a couple of days ago, so he is starting to make his mark on the team as a captain and as a leader and that will evolve over the next few days before we get into our first game. But as I said, I could not have been happier," said the Australian legend.