Jasprit Bumrah or Shaheen Afridi—who’ll be better at the T20 World Cup?
When trying to decide whether Shaheen Afridi or Jasprit Bumrah will have more of an influence at the 2022 T20 World Cup, Australia legend Ricky Ponting made some risky predictions.
Bumrah and Afridi, two of the best fast bowlers in the world, both have great histories in the shortest format.
Afridi has taken 47 wickets in 40 games, whereas Bumrah has 69 in 58 games. With the new ball and in the final few overs, the two pacers are just as effective.
Ponting admitted in The ICC Review that he had a difficult time deciding, “How can you divide those two men, exactly? In the past few years, across all game types, they have been two of the best bowlers in the world.”
Ponting ultimately decided on Bumrah since he was a seasoned cricketer.
“I’ll likely go for Bumrah on my own, based only on experience. He has played cricket in Australia for a while now, more so than Afridi, and he has also participated in more significant competitions,” he added.
Ponting was also challenged to choose between Babar Azam and Jos Buttler, two of the world’s most reliable opening batsmen.
Compared to Buttler’s 1,562 runs in 94 games, Babar has scored 2,138 runs in 80 games.
“Technically speaking, Babar Azam is a superior player to Buttler. However, there is no comparison when comparing their strike rates because Buttler is far more dynamic and more of a 360-degree player than Babar,” said Ponting.
“Buttler has also played more cricket with England in Australia and has spent some time with Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash. I’m going to quote Jos Buttler here,” Ponting continued.
Who has the best yorker in the game?
Here are some of our staff’s picks@OsmanSamiuddin: Shaheen Afridi
Sidharth Monga: Jasprit Bumrah@gaurav_sundar: Mitch Starc@mroller98: Lockie Fergusonhttps://t.co/HHQ5Ydf3TP pic.twitter.com/cqWoUr55vs— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 27, 2021
