Ricky Ponting on Yuvraj Samra: In the T20 World Cup 2026, smaller teams (Associate Nations) also performed amazingly, which made the entire tournament more exciting. Many times they gave tough competition against big name full member teams, coming very close to victory in some matches. This tournament proved to be a big platform for the associate teams, where many players managed to leave their mark. A 19 year old player also attracted everyone's attention. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has made a big prediction regarding this player.

This young player shone in T20 World Cup

Canada's young batsman Yuvraj Samra gave a historic performance in the T20 World Cup 2026. Due to which Ricky Ponting has called him the new rising star of world cricket and has predicted that he will become a big name in franchise cricket in the next 10 years. 19 year old Yuvraj Samra played an amazing innings in the Group D match against New Zealand. He scored 110 runs in 65 balls, which included 11 fours and 6 sixes.

This century came with many records. This is the first century by an Associate Nation batsman in the T20 World Cup, and the youngest to score a century in the World Cup (T20 or ODI). Samra was 19 years and 141 days old when he achieved this feat, which is younger than legends like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar or Chris Gayle. Due to which Ricky Ponting has also become his fan.

Ricky Ponting made a big prediction

Ricky Ponting, while talking to ICC about Yuvraj Samra, said, 'I think he has put his name on everyone's lips. High class batting, from a player most of us didn't know about before going into this tournament. Now we know a lot about him.

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Ponting further said, 'Think he is 19 years old, he is growing and when you see such things from the youngest players in the World Cup, it is no surprise that he has a lot of skill and a lot of talent and I am sure he will play a lot of franchise based cricket in the next 10 years of his career.'

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