Ricky Ponting of Australia, one of the greatest players ever to pick a bat, thinks that Pakistan is well entrenched in such a way that the team looks like it would be hard to win against them with Babar Azam as their captain.
Babar took over as T20 captain for some time before being reappointed earlier this year, replacing Shaheen Afridi, famous bowler.
And according to Ponting, Pakistan has higher chances of replicating their single title triumph since 2009 and improving on their runner-up finish during the most recent T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.
“Leadership fits into certain people and not others. We have seen over the years that some of the best cricketers who have played the game have not always made very good captains because for them what makes these top players the best is how single-minded they can be about what they do next day better than previous,” Ricky Ponting said to The ICC Review.
“And when you’re captain you can’t do that. You need actually compartmentalize what you are doing and focus on your own game but also all other guys around you. And so, there are obviously guys who can handle it better than others,” he added.
Ponting thinks Babar has taken lessons from his failure.
“I think maybe initially, I thought with Babar because if you look at his record his numbers dropped as a result of it. So I think he probably learnt from that too. Similarly Afridi wasn’t a great leader either so going back into another World Cup it just looks like a more settled team when you’ve got someone like Babar as captain rather than Afridi,” he added.
He claimed Saim Ayub might surprise people with his hitting abilities once again at this year’s T20 World Cup for Men in Green batting at number one position.
In terms of Pakistan’s success in the T20 World Cup, the main focus will be on Babar Azam their captain and reliable opener Mohammad Rizwan but Ponting believes a youthful batter at their batting order could be a surprise.
In recent T20 International series against Ireland Ayub and Rizwan opened the batting for Pakistan and this left-handed Saim Ayub was recommended to watch out at the T20 World Cup by Ponting.
“That Ayub guy out here during our summer in Australia. He played that Sydney Test match, I think it was and then I didn’t know much about him,” he said.
“So when I’m sitting there commentating, I like to know about players and what they can do, so I actually went back and had a look at some of his PSL stuff. And he’s a proper player. He’s gonna be a star one day,” he added.
