Australian legend Ricky Ponting feels Mohammed Shami’s strength lies in the longest format and there are better fast bowlers in India’s T20 lineup, weighing in on his absence from the Asia Cup squad. India has chosen Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh as the three specialist fast bowlers, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the fourth pacemaker in the 15-man squad.
“He (Shami) has been a very, very good bowler for India for a long time. If you look at his strengths, his Test cricket is probably where he thrives the most,” Ponting, a two-time World Cup winner, said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
“I think there are better fast bowlers in Indian T20 cricket than Shami and they’ve only named three (for the Asia Cup). So if there’s possibly four in the squad, he might be the fourth man.” With Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel’s injuries, many thought Shami could be taken in to share the new Asian Cup ball duties.
“I’d think they’ll probably just let the four quicks come to Australia. They’ll still want to bring a lot of spin here, even if the wickets are probably not as conducive,” Ponting said.
The Asian Cup will be held in Dubai and Sharjah from August 27 to September 11 and Ponting chose India as the favorite to win the tournament.
“It’s always hard to pass India in any tournament, not just an Asian Cup, but I think every time we talk about the T20 World Cup coming up, I think India is right in the middle of that.” the battle is on,” said the 47-year-old.
“Their depth is definitely better than the other teams and I think India will win the Asian Cup.” Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have been out of a bilateral series for nearly a decade.
“To be quite honest, it’s one that we’re starving at, isn’t it … looking back over the past 15 or 20 years,” Ponting said.
“As a cricket enthusiast like me and a cricket observer, it’s almost always nice to sit back and watch every time these kinds of battles come up, because everything just kicks up a gear, doesn’t it?” When I think of rivalry, Australia and England and Ashes cricket is the highlight I have always thought of for our test match game. I’m sure India and Pakistanis will say the same and the real rivalry would be the pinnacle of test match cricket for those two countries too.” Ponting believes India has the depth to triumph over Pakistan.
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“I’m staying with India to win that clash with Pakistan. That doesn’t take anything away from Pakistan because it’s an incredible cricket nation that still presents great superstar players.”
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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