Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes India can go with Ishan Kishan as the wicket-keeping option at the World Test Championship (WTC) final as he can provide an 'X-factor' to the team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The India XI will be stacked with stars when they face Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final but Ponting has called for a keeper-batter to be handed a red-ball debut.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ishan has impressed in 41 white-ball internationals for India since 2021 whether batting at the top of the order or taking the gloves but is yet to play a Test.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 24-year-old proved he can turn a game on its head when smashing 210 runs from 131 balls with 10 sixes and 24 boundaries while opening for India in an ODI against Bangladesh last December.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
It is that sort of devastating display that Ponting believes could ultimately prove the difference between the evenly-matched teams set to contest the WTC final from June 7 at the Oval, London.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I'd pick Ishan Kishan If you want to be crowned the world champion, you have to win the game. Hence why there is a sixth day that has been added to try and give both teams the best chance of a result," Ponting said on The ICC Review.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I'd be going with Ishan Kishan if I was them in this game. I think it just provides that little bit of X-factor that you might need when pushing for a win in a Test match," he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
K.S. Bharat was preferred for the four Tests in the recent home series against Australia with Rishabh Pant unavailable after being involved in a motor vehicle accident in January.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 29-year-old wicketkeeper, Bharat, is best suited to the red-ball format and looked comfortable when averaging 20.20 with the bat against Australia on tricky wickets, but could still be overlooked for the winner-takes-all WTC Final.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Obviously if Rishabh Pant is fit, he's playing and he provides that X-factor for India. But with him not being there, and this is no blight on Bharat whatsoever, I think Kishan just provides that little bit more X-factor.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"(Kishan) will do a good job with the gloves, but can provide that really high-scoring run rate that might be required in a one-off Test match to try and push for a win," Ponting said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Australian also said that Hardik Pandya could have been India's X-factor had he been picked for the WTC Final.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pandya has not played a Test since 2018 and was quick to rule himself out of contention for the WTC Final after electing to sit out of the five-day format due to ongoing fitness concerns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But Ponting would have liked to see the proven match-winner talked into being part of the squad for the high-stakes clash at The Oval.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"The other really interesting thing that I thought about the other day for India in this game is how valuable someone like Hardik Pandya could"be in a one-off Test match," Ponting said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I know he is on record saying that the Test match game is probably a little bit hard on his body. But for a one-off game... he's been bowling every game through this IPL and he's bowling quick.<\/p>\r\n\r\n