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.
