Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting praised Rohit Sharma's "outstanding" captaincy in India's thrilling six-run victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Ponting commended Rohit for the way he backed his bowlers while defending a modest total.

After being bowled out for 119 with an over to spare, India, led by the impressive Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, restricted Pakistan to 113 for seven in 20 overs. Rohit's brilliant rotation of his bowlers was key to this successful defense.

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Ricky Ponting hails Rohit Sharma's captaincy

"Rohit Sharma is a very experienced captain, isn't he? And, I just saw him then and said, 'mate, your captaincy today was outstanding'," Ponting said in a video posted by the ICC on Instagram.

"I don't think he could have done much more. You think about a lot of the bowlers that he's got in his team. He's actually had those bowlers in the IPL as well, not only for India."

"So, he understands them, knows when he can use them. But, it's one thing for the captain to set a plan, the bowlers are going to go ahead and execute it, and Hardik was outstanding."

Pakistan appeared to have the game in hand, needing just 48 runs off 48 balls with eight wickets remaining.

However, the dynamic pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah (3/14) and Hardik Pandya (2/24) turned the tide with their incisive spells, causing a dramatic collapse as Pakistan lost wickets in quick succession.

"I thought he (Pandya) did a really good job with the ball as well, and then, you break it down, and this has been a wicket that the seamers have liked," Ponting said.

"But, their spinners bowled four overs for 20 as well, and (Axar) Patel picked up a big wicket.

Yeah, the wicket was definitely different in the second innings.

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"You can see Pakistan got the ball to hold up through natural variation, and it was just a little bit tacky. But, when the sun came out, the wicket dried out quite quickly, and then, you have to adapt and adjust on the run. I thought he (Pandya) did that really well."

It was India's lowest successful T20I total defence.

(With PTI inputs)