Ricky Ponting picks Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah among his top five T20I players in the world

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting picked Rashid Khan, Babar Azam, Hardik Pandya, Jos Buttler and Jasprit Bumrah as his top five T20I players in the world. He picked the star Afghani spinner, Rashid, as his number one, stating that the leg-spinner would be bought for the most amount of money if he were made available in IPL auctions.

Ponting picked the Pakistan captain Babar for the second spot, as he currently is the number one-ranked T20I batter in the world. The Australian said that Babar has led the way for Pakistan over the last two years. He picked Pandya at number three on the current form, given his performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 and that he is bowling again.

“Five players is relatively easy, but trying to put them in order from one to five makes it a little bit more difficult,” said Ponting on the ICC show ‘The ICC Review’. “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.”

Jasprit Bumrah is the most complete bowler: Ricky Ponting

Ponting picked England white-ball cricket captain Buttler for number four for his ability to take the game away in a short period of time, and he also called Buttler an out-and-out match-winner. “When you’re coaching against him (Buttler), you just know that he's got something that a lot of other players don't have.”

Ponting picked Jasprit Bumrah as his fifth player. He said that the pacer is the most complete bowler in the world across the three formats. He also said that the Indian pacer, who is known for his death bowling in the T20 circuit, is very good with the new ball.

“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,” explained Ponting.