One Pakistani features in Ponting's top five World T20I players

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has chosen the five players he would select first if given the task of choosing a World T20I team.

Boasting a legendary record in white-ball cricket of his own, Ponting was also skipper of Australia for the first-ever men’s T20I, making 98* (55) in a match-winning performance.

Now spending a lot of his time in coaching dugouts and commentary boxes, Ponting watches as much T20 cricket as anyone and uses both roles to keep close tabs on the world’s best.

Speaking on the latest episode of The ICC Review, Ponting was asked to select the first five players he would choose for a World T20I team – and perhaps to the shock of some there is no Australian players in his quintet.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam was named among his five players in this format.

“Babar Azam I'll go for at number two, simply because the number one ranked batter in the T20 game for quite a while now and deservedly so.”

“His record speaks for itself. He's pretty much led the way for that Pakistan team for the last couple of years.”

Ricky Ponting's top five World T20I players

• Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
• Babar Azam (Pakistan)
• Hardik Pandya (India)
• Jos Buttler (England)
• Jasprit Bumrah (India)