World Cup 2019: Ricky Ponting names the ‘danger-man’ from the Bangladesh camp

After making their World Cup debut in 1999, Bangladesh carved themselves a reputation as ‘giant-killers’. As time passed by, they started showing more consistency, beating the powerhouses more frequently. However, inconsistent performances kept being a detriment in their journey and despite possessing some of the most promising players in the business, they couldn’t perform at par with the top teams.

Going into the 2019 edition of the World Cup not may have given them a chance to even progress to the semi-finals. Meanwhile, a number of players from the team, including the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and many others will be on focus during the tournament in England and Wales. Among them, Ricky Ponting feels that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is the most dangerous.

“My danger man for Bangladesh is Shakib Al Hasan. He has been here for a long time. He scores in so different areas; he is very strong in square of the wicket. He strokes very well in backward point and third man,” Ponting was quoted as saying in cricket.com.au.

Shakib is different than other spinners right now

Over the last one and a half years, Shakib has been faced with a number of injury concerns, but that hasn’t deterred him from doing well. In the recently concluded tri-nation ODI series in Ireland, the Khulna-born racked up 140 runs. Though he didn’t pick up a whole lot of wickets, he was economical.

He also got back the number one slot in ICC’s ranking for all-rounders, surpassing Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan. The 44-year-old Ponting, also a former Australian cricketer, feels that he is a tad different from the other spinners and varies his pace in order to trap batsmen, using the arm ball.

“Shakib’s cleverness comes out in his bowling. He has never been a big turner of the ball, left arm off spinner [Shakib], his change of pace in bowling is quite amazing and he looks to be attacking. He uses the arm ball a lot more than other spinners.

He is different than other spinners right now, most spinners bowl in the pitch and don’t give any scoring opportunities. But he is the other way, he keeps you in the pitch for the first couple of balls, change the pace and wait for the batsman to take him on,” he added.

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