Ricky Ponting picks his Best XI of IPL 10

Former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting has been closely following the Indian Premier League. He was in the capacity of the head coach of the Mumbai Indians in the previous edition of the tournament. He was not in India this time around for the tournament but made sure that he was up to date with the proceedings of the tournament. Recently, he picked his Best XI of the IPL 10.

Ricky Ponting picked Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner as the opener of his side. Warner was the winner of the Orange Cap this season with 641 runs to his name at an average of 58.37. “Winner of the orange cap with the most runs. He’s just been in complete control of his game for a number of years now in the IPL. He thrives on extra responsibility and leadership. Having won the tournament last year and got close again (this year) but couldn’t quite get across that last hurdle, Davey’s led the side really well,” Ponting quoted as per the quotes in cricket.com.au.

The other opener that he chose was Hashim Amla. Amla hit two masterly tons this season at the top of the order for the Kings XI Punjab. He was unfortunate to have ended on the losing side on both occasions though. “He’s the only man in the tournament to score two hundreds (in IPL10) and has got them pretty quickly. You can’t really argue with what he’s done, so a fantastic tournament for him,” quoted Ricky Ponting.

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir comes in at number three for Ricky Ponting. He expressed that he was surprised to see Gambhir in the middle order. Gambhir finished as the second leading run getter of the season. “I said before the finals started that I’m a bit surprised that he’s batting in that number three position considering what he’s done at the top of the order for Kolkata for a long time.”

Suresh Raina had a disappointing time this season but managed to perform exceedingly well among the Indian players. He found a place in Ricky’s team as well. “He’s just a class T20 player (and) a classy short-form player. He’s got a great one-day record for India as well,” remarked Ponting.

Surprisingly, Ricky Ponting picked Robin Uthappa in the capacity of the wicket-keeper of the side. He cited that the strike rate of Uthappa this year (165) was phenomenal. “You need those guys in the middle-order to be able to score quickly right from the start,” he quipped.

All-rounders

English all-rounder Ben Stokes was the power performer of the season with 316 runs to his name and 12 wickets to his credit. He comes in at number 6 in Punter’s lineup. “The MVP for the entire tournament (and) the guy that was most talked about before the tournament started was Ben Stokes. (He’s) on a huge deal with the Supergiants and has probably earned every cent of it to be fair.”

Ponting named Hardik Pandya as the other all-rounder in the team. He pointed out that he had worked with Pandya in the previous editions and was left very impressed with his all-round abilities.

Bowlers

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the winner of the Purple Cap this season with 26 scalps was the next man in the lineup picked by Ponting. Rising Pune Supergiant duo of Jaydev Unadkat and Imran Tahir have also managed to take two positions in the lineup of Ricky Ponting. Tahir was a wicket-taker this season with 18 wickets to his name with a strike rate of 15.7. On the other hand, Unadkat was the most impressive pacer with 24 wickets at strike rate of 11.4.

Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan found a mention too in the lineup. Rashid was very impressive in his maiden outing in the IPL. He played all the matches for the Sunrisers Hyderabad this season and was an impact player for his side. “I’ve actually named two leg-spinners in the side, one that started the tournament really well (was) Rashid Khan. One thing you see with the spinners – and certainly the good spinners in T20 cricket – is even if they don’t take a lot of wickets, their economy-rate is always quite low,” Ricky Ponting conceded.

Ricky Ponting IPL 10 Best XI:

David Warner (c), Hashim Amla, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa (wk), Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Imran Tahir, Jaydev Unadkat.