Former Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, revealed the top-run scorer and the most wicket-taker of the T20 World Cup 2024 next month.
According to Ponting, India's right-arm fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah would be at the top of the wickets chart. During the Indian Premier League (IPL), Bumrah gave a commendable performance and bagged 20 wickets in 13 games.
“My leading wicket-taker for the tournament will be Jasprit Bumrah,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
“I just think an outstanding performer, contributor for a number of years now. He's just come off an outstanding IPL.
“What he can do with the new ball, he swings the new ball, he has the seam up. But at the end, his economy rate at the end of the IPL was less than seven runs an over.
“He takes wickets. He does bowl a lot of the hard overs too. When you bowl the hard overs in T20 cricket, it gives you a chance to pick up a lot of wickets along the way. So, I'm going with him."
Meanwhile, Ponting chose Australian player, Travis Head, as the most run-scorer in the forthcoming tournament.
“My prediction for the leading run-scorer will be Travis Head,” Ponting said.
“I just think everything he's done, whether it be red-ball or white-ball in the last couple of years, has been of the highest quality. I think he's playing fearless cricket at the moment,” he added.
Head was very impactful for Australian team in the ODI World Cup 2023. After recovering from the injury, he scored a ton of runs and, by the end of the tournament, the Australian player was able to score two hundreds and a fifty, while striking at an amazing rate of 127.52.
Similarly, Head performed well during the IPL, with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), where he scored 567 runs in 15 matches at the rate of 191.55.
Nevertheless, Ponting expects that the player will play really well in the tournament, co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies.
“His IPL had its ups and downs, but when it's been good, it's been very good. And it has won games of cricket for his team," Ponting noted.
“And it'll be exactly the same for Australia. So, look, he might not be the most consistent on the way through this tournament, but he'll be right up there, I'm sure, with the leading run scorers. And as I've said, if he spends any amount of time at the wicket for Australia, he'll win more games than ever.”
The first ICC T20 World Cup 2024 match will be between the USA and Canada on Saturday, June 1.
- Ricky Ponting
