Ricky Ponting (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

NEW DELHI: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has praised the India national cricket team after their dominant victory in the T20 World Cup 2026, calling the current Indian side one of the strongest T20 teams ever. India secured their third T20 World Cup title with a convincing 96-run win over the New Zealand national cricket team in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The win also made India the first team to successfully defend the T20 World Cup.

Ponting praises India’s depth and consistency

Ponting highlighted India’s impressive performances in recent ICC tournaments and their strong record in white-ball cricket. According to him, the team’s combination of talent, experience and depth makes them extremely difficult to beat.“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,” Ponting said on International Cricket Council’s The ICC Review.“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.”

Experience and IPL influence

The former Australian captain believes the players’ experience from both international cricket and the Indian Premier League has helped them handle pressure situations better.“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,” said Ponting, who is also head coach of Punjab Kings.“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.”

Learning from a rare defeat

India had suffered a defeat against the South Africa national cricket team during the Super Eight stage, but Ponting felt the loss actually helped the team refocus.“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,” he said. “They would have learned from that experience and won’t take things for granted.”After that loss, India bounced back strongly with powerful batting displays, scoring over 250 runs in three matches, including the semifinal and the final.“Maybe it just allowed them to regroup, get together and talk about the things that are important to them as a team,” Ponting added. “They solidified what they felt was their strongest playing XI and didn’t make many changes at the back end of the tournament.”