Ricky Ponting

Former World Cup-Winning Captain Ricky Ponting Predicts Travis Head To Be ‘Highest Run-Scorer’ Of T20 WC

Danijones5 months ago05 mins

Former Australia World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting predicted that Baggy Greens star opener Travis Head will be the highest run-scorer of the upcoming T20 World Cup. Ahead of the marquee event starting on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies, Travis Head has been enjoying a purple patch with the bat. Ponting has backed Head to emerge as the top run-getter in the highly anticipated tournament. He believes that the southpaw’s performance over the past couple of years in all formats of cricket has been of the highest quality. “My prediction for the leading run-scorer will be Travis Head. 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,” Ponting said in the ICC Review Podcast. In last year’s ODI World Cup, Australia showed faith in him by including Head in the squad despite carrying an injury. Head was added to the playing XI when he regained fitness and repaid the management’s faith by scoring a ton in his comeback match. He also won the Player of the Match award in the semi-final and the final of the tournament. In the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), Head featured for Sunrisers Hyderabad and emerged as the highest run-scorer for the franchise. Overall, he was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament with a whopping tally of 567 runs in 15 matches scoring at an average of 40.50 and a mouth-watering tally of 191.55. En route to the final, SRH were buttressed by Head’s explosive start in the opening slot. He struggled to put up runs at the backend of the tournament but overall showed his destructive potential in the opening front of the shortest format of the game. In the final three games, he registered two ducks and a 34-run knock. Despite his sub-par performance towards the end of the cash-rich league, Ponting expects fireworks from Head’s bat in the World Cup. “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,” Ponting added. Australia are placed in Group B alongside England, Namibia, Oman and Scotland. They will begin their campaign against Oman on June 6 at the Kensington Oval, Barbados. (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Topics mentioned in this article

No Virat-Rohit as Ricky Ponting predicts leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup 2024 – India TV

Danijones5 months ago04 mins

Image Source : GETTY Travis Head and Ricky Ponting at Lord’s, London in June 2023 The former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting revealed his predictions for the the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 on Thursday, May 30. Ponting surprised everyone by picking Indian bowler and Australian batter as his predcitions. Indian batters and Australian bowlers boast impressive records in the tournament history and are tipped to dominate leaderboard chart in the ninth edition in the USA and West Indies starting from June 1. Ponting picked the in-form Australian batter Travis Head as his leading run-scorer predicition in the World Cup ahead of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli holds vaious records in the T20 World Cup, including the record of most runs in an edition, and recently won the Orange Cap in the IPL 2024 for scoring 741 runs. Travis Head also made a big impact in the IPL 2024 by scoring 567 runs at a strike rate of 191.55. Ponting beleives that the left-handed opening batter is displaying fearless cricketer for the last couple of years and will be leading run-scorer in the upcoming tournament. “My prediction for the leading run-scorer will be Travis Head,” Ponting told the ICC. “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.” Notably, Travis Head is yet to make his T20 World Cup debut despite scoring 656 runs in 25 T20I innings at a strike rate of 147.08. Head is tipped to open with the veteran David Warner in the upcoming World Cup. Meanwhile, Ponting snubbed Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc’s names to pick India’s Jasprit Bumrah as the leading wicket-taker. Despite Mumbai Indians’ disastrous campaign, the Indian pace ace made a stunning comeback in the IPL 2024 by taking 20 wickets at an economy rate of 6.48. “My leading wicket-taker for the tournament will be Jasprit Bumrah. 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,” Ponting added.

Ricky Ponting predicts these two players as leading wicket-taker and run-getter in T20 World Cup | Cricket News

Danijones5 months ago06 mins

NEW DELHI: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has predicted India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Aussie batting sensation Travis Head to emerge as the leading wicket-taker and run-getter, respectively, in the upcoming T20 World Cup.Ponting, renowned for his cricketing acumen, believes Bumrah’s exceptional pace and skill in delivering crucial breakthroughs will make him the tournament’s top wicket-taker.On the batting front, he expects Head’s aggressive and consistent performances to earn him the most runs.Both players have shown remarkable prowess in T20 cricket, and Ponting’s prediction underscores their potential to shine on the world stage, setting high expectations for their contributions in the tournament.Bumrah is coming off a sensational IPL season, where he took 20 wickets in 13 games and maintained an impressive economy rate of 6.48, despite the high-scoring nature of the tournament.“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,” added Ponting.Ponting selected fellow Australian Head as his pick for the top run-scorer in the upcoming 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.”Head suffered an injury at the beginning of the ICC World Cup last year. However, Australia‘s belief in his abilities was so strong that they kept him with the squad until he recovered.In his return match against New Zealand during the tournament, Head repaid the team’s trust with a blistering century. He concluded the World Cup with an impressive record, scoring two hundreds and a fifty, maintaining an average above 50, and striking at a remarkable rate of 127.52.Head’s exceptional form persisted in the current IPL 2024 season, where he played a crucial role as an opener in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s journey to the final. Throughout the tournament, he amassed 567 runs in 15 matches, maintaining an extraordinary strike rate of 191.55.Despite Head’s underwhelming conclusion to the IPL season, Ponting anticipates that he will continue to display his explosive batting prowess during the upcoming matches in the Caribbean and the United States.“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,” Ponting concluded.The T20 World Cup 2024 will begin on June 1 in the West Indies and USA.