"My leading wicket-taker...": Ricky Ponting picks India pacer Jasprit Bumrah to dominate T20 WC
T20 World Cup.
The former World Cup champion Ponting believes that Bumrah's sensational form in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 will make the India pacer frontrunner in the showpiece ICC event as the highest wicket-taker.
In the IPL 2024, Bumrah took 20 wickets in 13 games, conceding runs at a miserly economy rate of 6.48 despite the large totals in the tournament.
«My leading wicket-taker for the tournament will be Jasprit Bumrah. I just think an outstanding performer, and contributor for a number of years now. He's just come off an outstanding IPL,» Ponting told The ICC Review.
Bumrah's form, pace, yorkers and fitness will play a crucial role in deciding how far Men in Blue go in their campaign. Having missed the 2022 edition of the tournament in Australia due to injuries, the Indian team felt his absence really hard as they were crushed by England by 10 wickets in the semifinals.
In 10 T20 WC matches across 2016 and 2021 editions, Bumrah took 11 wickets at an average of 22.54 and a strike rate of 21.0, with the best figures of 2/10.
«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,» he added.
The ICC T20 World Cup will be played in the West Indies and the USA from June 1 to
