Dubai 5th of September : Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Monday picked India’s Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah in his top five World T20I players.Ponting was captain of Australia in the year they participated in their first ever men’s T20I which saw them score 98 not out of 55 balls in a match-winning win against New Zealand.Since his return to international football in June, Pandya’s standing as an all-rounder is growing with his performance in the all-round which have helped India to wins, an instance of that was in the Group A game against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022.
“On current performance, it’s quite difficult to surpass Hardik Pandya in the third spot.
His IPL was awe-inspiring.To be able to see him back in the bowling crease was something I was always a doubtful about would ever happen.he’s been through some major injuries that have clearly impacted how much he’s been capable of playing in India.”
“But he’s back at bowling and at 140kph, which he was doing five or four years back.But his batting skills and maturation in batting have improved in leaps and leaps and.He knows the game better and he knows his game better than ever before.And right now, he’s probably the top all-rounder in the world in T20 cricket and could be in ODI cricket.” said Ponting during the ICC Review show for picking Pandya.
Even though he was not able to play in the Asia Cup due to a back injury, Bumrah is India’s trump card with the ball, capable of delivering the goods to his side in any stage of the game with his array of slower yorkers, bouncers, and balls.
“Jasprit Bumrah in the top five.
He is possibly the most complete bowler in Test cricket, One Day cricket and T20 cricket in the world at present.Very excellent with the latest ball, if you decide to play him in that manner.”
“India might consider of offering him an over with the new ball in Australia (at the T20 World Cup) where it might bounce, but all you can be sure of is two or three of top-quality death overs that every team is seeking — someone who can hit slow balls and bouncers” said Ponting.
Other players selected by Ponting include Pakistan captain Babar Azam, England’s captain of white ball Jos Buttler, and Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan.
Azam is a prodigious runner for Pakistan in white-ball cricket, despite his inability to play an important score in Asia Cup.
“Babar Azam I’ll pick him the second spot because he is the top batter in the T20 game for quite a long time now and rightfully so.His record is a testimony to his achievements.He’s pretty much paved the way for the Pakistan team over the past few of years.” said Ponting.
Rashid is Ponting’s first choice, and he admitted that deciding on players in order of one to five is a tough task.”I’ve actually been with Rashid Khan at number one.The reason I considered that was that if we had an event for players in the form of an IPL auction, with no salary caps, he’s likely the player who will be the highest bidder of funds.”
“I’ve placed him in the top spot for his regularity, his ability to keep wickets over the course of a long time of time and also the fact that the economy rate in the T20 game is simply outstanding.If you’re playing against a team the player is playing in you’ll probably get less sleep than you would for any other game you play in the course of the entire year.”
Ponting ended his speech by explaining the reason why Buttler is one of his top five choices.”When you’re a coach against him, you know that he has something that many of other players do not have the ability to win the game off in just a short amount of time by opening the batting — something he will accomplish for England this tournament.”
“He was one of the players who was an unstoppable match-winner, as we witnessed with this year’s IPL which saw him score three or four hundred that was quite impressive.His batting increased to another degree in the past year or two.”
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