T20 World Cup 2022: Hardik Pandya Is The Best T20 Allrounder In The World - Ricky Ponting

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has lauded India all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been in outstanding form since winning the IPL 2022 title with Gujarat Titans. Pandya continued his IPL form into international cricket, producing a match-winning all-round performance for India last week in a high-voltage Asia Cup 2022 match against Pakistan.

Ponting has a remarkable white-ball record and captained Australia in their first-ever Twenty20 International match. He hit a match-winning 98* off only 55 balls. He has since represented his country in 17 T20I matches, scoring 401 runs at an average of 28.64. In this format, he scored two half-centuries. After retirement from international cricket, Ricky Ponting has been playing the role of commentary or coaching. At present, he is the head coach of the Delhi Capitals.

Ricky Ponting Praised Hardik Pandya As The Best T20 Allrounder

In the most recent episode of ICC Review, he was asked to name the first five players he would pick for a World T20I team. His list, however, does not include any Australian players.

Ponting chose Hardik Pandya as his number three player, describing him as “probably the best T20I all-rounder. Pandya is currently at number five in T20I All-Rounder Rankings.

“On current form, it’s pretty hard to go past Hardik Pandya at number three. His IPL was outstanding. To see him back at the bowling crease is something that I was always a little bit unsure would actually ever happen … he has had some really big injury setbacks, which has obviously affected how much he has been able to play for India,” he said.

“But he is back bowling, and at 140kph which he was doing four or five years ago. But his batting and his maturity while batting have come on in leaps and bounds. He understands the game better and he understands his game better than ever before and right now he is probably the best all-rounder in the world in T20 cricket, and could potentially be in ODI cricket,” he added.

This year’s ICC T20 World Cup will take place from October 16 to November 13.

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