Dukes ball

ICC World Test Championship: Australia legend Ricky Ponting has thrown his weight behind Shubman Gill as India’s new Test captain and outlined how he believes the side could shape up for their upcoming five-Test tour of England — their first without stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Both Kohli and Rohit, two of India’s modern greats, announced their retirements from Test cricket earlier this month, prompting a generational shift as India looks to the future. At just 25, Gill has been entrusted with the captaincy — a move that raised eyebrows among some pundits, but not Ponting.

“I actually think it’s the right move,” Ponting said on The ICC Review, responding to debate around Gill’s appointment. “I know there’s a lot of other people out there, pundits out there saying they can’t understand why it wasn’t Bumrah and why they have gone to Shubman, but I think it’s pretty simple.