Key Points
Gill scores match-winning century in Champions Trophy opener
Ranked No. 1 ODI batter with exceptional white-ball skills
Ponting highlights Gill's natural aggressive batting style
Demonstrates leadership potential beyond cricket performance
Recently crowned as the number one men's ODI batter, Gill notched a scintillating century - his second in a row in ODIs - to help inspire a six-wicket win for India over Bangladesh.
Speaking to Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review podcast, Ponting heaped praise on the India vice-captain and right-hand batter.
"He thoroughly deserves to be the number one ranked batsman in the world at the moment and it's a great sign for India that he's got his account underway early in the first game of a Champions Trophy," Ponting said as quoted by the ICC.
Ponting added that while Gill hasn't been able to deliver his best in the longest format of the game, white ball cricket best suits his style of play.
"He's been a very, very good international player for a number of years. He hasn't sort of transferred that over into Test Match cricket yet, but his white-ball cricket over the last three or four years has been outstanding. Look, he's a big game player as well. He's played really well in IPLs over the last couple of years, obviously being captain of his franchise there," the World Cup-winning player said.
Further, the former Australian skipper lauded Gill's ability to find boundaries in ODI cricket, particularly off the quicks.
"I just think that the white ball game really suits his style of play. One day cricket, he can come out and be nice and aggressive early on in the power play with the field up, get some boundaries away early by playing good, naturally aggressive cricketing shots. He's not a big hitter, he's not anyone that goes out there and tries to do anything outside of the way that he can naturally play. He just scores, he scores boundaries almost at will against fast bowling, against the white ball," the 50-year-old said.
Gill has been in a rich vein of form with the bat coming into the Champions Trophy, having closed India's recent series sweep over England as the leading run-getter.
With India chasing 229 in their opening game against Bangladesh on Thursday, Gill scored his eighth ODI hundred, seeing through a tricky chase in Dubai.
While Ponting is all praise for Gill's batting, the former Australia skipper also believes the Indian opener also has big ambitions in the leadership role.
"He just seems like a really nice character. A really softly spoken guy, very driven for what he wants to achieve in the game. We've had a chance to catch up over the last couple of years, particularly around the IPL season. I just like his demeanor. He seems like just a very driven guy that wants to be the best that he possibly can with batting and also as far as leadership's concerned," Ponting said.
