Former Australian cricket team Ricky Ponting has chosen 5 players that he would put first if ever asked to make a world T20I XI.
Ricky is a white ball legend on his own and when he captained Australia in the first ever T20I match, Ponting smashed New Zealand bowlers for a thrashing of 98 from 55 balls to win the match for the Aussie team.
Nowadays also Ponting does cricket, he coaches teams most of the time of the year along with commentary. He uses most of his experience to keep tabs on the world’s best. He knows the form of cricket since its starting days and is appropriate if ever given the task of joining the best players together in a team.
When asked on the latest episode of ICC Review, Ponting was asked to select the first five of this team that he would pick over everyone else. So he does and to the surprise of many, there wasn’t a single Aussie on the list of Ponting’s top 5.
Ricky Ponting’s First Five Players For World T20I XI:
“Five players is relatively easy, but trying to put them in order from one to five makes it a little bit more difficult,” Ponting starts the listing
Rashid Khan (Afghanistan): ICC T20I Bowling Ranking 3.
Rashid Khan was the first pick for Ponting.
Ponting begins.“I’ve actually gone with Rashid Khan at number one, and the reason I thought about that was if we actually had a player event in an IPL auction now and there was no salary cap, he’s probably the one that’s going to go for the most amount of money.”
“I’ve got him at number one for his consistency, his wicket-taking ability over a long period of time, but also the fact that his economy rate in the T20 game is just outstanding. When you’re playing against any team that he’s playing in you probably have less sleep that night than you do for any other game that you play during the year.”
Babar Azam (Pakistan): ICC T20I Batting Ranking 1
Ponting went for Pakistan skipper next.
“Babar Azam, I’ll go for at number two, simply because the number one ranked batter in the T20 game for quite a while now and deservedly so.”
“His record speaks for itself. He’s pretty much led the way for that Pakistan team for the last couple of years”
3. Hardik Pandya (India) – ICC T20I All-Rounder Ranking: 5
Stylish Indian All-rounder Pandya came in at number 3.
“On current form, it’s pretty hard to go past Hardik Pandya at number three. His IPL was outstanding. To see him back at the bowling crease is something that I was always a little bit unsure would actually ever happen … he’s had some really big injury setbacks, which has obviously affected how much he’s been able to play for India.
“But he’s back bowling, and at 140kph which he was doing four or five years ago. But his batting and his maturity while batting has come on in leaps and bounds.”
“He understands the game better and he understands his game better than ever before and right now he’s probably the best allrounder in the world in T20 cricket, and could potentially be in ODI cricket.”
4. Jos Buttler – ICC T20I Batting Ranking: 16
T20 Batting legend also cemented his place in the top 5 of Ponting.
“I had to pick Jos Buttler in there actually. When you’re coaching against him, you just know that he’s got something that a lot of other players don’t have; the ability to take the game away in a short period of time by opening the batting – which he will do for England this tournament.
“He was one of the people who’s an out-and-out match-winner as we saw with last year’s IPL, making three or four hundred, which was quite remarkable. His batting went to another level in the last year or so.”
5. Jasprit Bumrah – ICC T20I Bowling Ranking: 37
Bumrah picked the final spot on the five-player list.
“Jasprit Bumrah in at number five. He is probably the most complete bowler across Test cricket, One Day cricket, and T20 cricket in the world right now. Very good with the new ball when anyone decides to use him that way.
“India might think of giving him an over with the new ball in Australia (at the T20 World Cup) where it might swing but what you can guarantee is a couple of great high-quality death overs, which every team is looking for – someone that can execute slow balls and bouncers.”
