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Former Australia World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting predicted that Baggy Greens star opener Travis Head will be the highest run-scorer of the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Ahead of the marquee event starting on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies, Travis Head has been enjoying a purple patch with the bat. Ponting has backed Head to emerge as the top run-getter in the highly anticipated tournament. He believes that the southpaw's performance over the past couple of years in all formats of cricket has been of the highest quality. "My prediction for the leading run-scorer will be Travis Head. 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," Ponting said in the ICC Review Podcast. In last year's ODI World Cup, Australia showed faith in him by including Head in the squad despite carrying an injury. Head was added to the playing XI when he regained fitness and repaid the management's faith by scoring a ton in his comeback match. He also won the Player of the Match award in the semi-final and the final of the tournament. In the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), Head featured for Sunrisers Hyderabad and emerged as the highest run-scorer for the franchise. Overall, he was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament with a whopping tally of 567 runs in 15 matches scoring at an average of 40.50 and a mouth-watering tally of 191.55. En route to the final, SRH were buttressed by Head's explosive start in the opening slot. He struggled to put up runs at the backend of the tournament but overall showed his destructive potential in the opening front of the shortest format of the game. In the final three games, he registered two ducks and a 34-run knock. Despite his sub-par performance towards the end of the cash-rich league, Ponting expects fireworks from Head's bat in the World Cup. "His IPL had its ups and downs, but when it's been good, it's been very good. And it has won games of cricket for his team," Ponting noted. "And it'll be exactly the same for Australia. So, look, he might not be the most consistent on the way through this tournament, but he'll be right up there, I'm sure, with the leading run scorers. And as I've said, if he spends any amount of time at the wicket for Australia, he'll win more games than ever," Ponting added. Australia are placed in Group B alongside England, Namibia, Oman and Scotland. They will begin their campaign against Oman on June 6 at the Kensington Oval, Barbados. (ANI)
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