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Cricket PlayersWill Hardik Pandya have an edge over Glenn Maxwell? Ricky Ponting gives no-nonsense verdict in T20 World Cup face-off
Legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting was asked to make his pick between two of the biggest all-rounders in T20I cricket - Glenn Maxwell and Hardik Pandya.
In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, an on-song Hardik Pandya did all the heavy lifting as a premier all-rounder of the Rohit Sharma-led side when Team India squared off against Australia at Mohali. Pandya, who is the latest addition to the leadership group of the Rahul Dravid-coached side, played a blinder of a knock against Australia in the 1st T20I of the three-match series at Mohali.
Tearing the bowling attack apart, Pandya slammed a quick-fire half-century as the middle-order batter propelled Team India to a challenging total. Pandya's 30-ball 71 lifted Team India to 208-6 in 20 overs. While all-rounder Pandya earned plaudits with his batsmanship, his Australian counterpart Glenn Maxwell had a forgetful outing in the same contest on Tuesday. Maxwell and Pandya are two of the most explosive all-rounders in white-ball cricket.
The two Indian Premier League (IPL) superstars will be eager to stamp their authority in the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup. Speaking to Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review, legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting refused to settle the best all-rounder debate involving Pandya and Maxwell. Ponting was asked to pick the better all-rounder between ‘Kung Fu’ Pandya and 'Big Show' Maxwell.
“Hardik’s last few months, in particular, have probably been the best of his career. Looking at the way they stack up, I think Hardik will probably have more of a chance to have an impact with the ball and also more of a chance to have an impact with the bat,” Ponting said.
The former Australian skipper backed Maxwell to upstage Pandya in terms of scoring runs at the T20 World Cup. However, Ponting also tipped Pandya to take more wickets than Maxwell.
“Maxwell's been batting quite low in T20 cricket. But that being said, in Australia, I think Maxwell will end up scoring more runs than Hardik. And I think Hardik will take more wickets than Maxwell. So, I’m going to call that one a draw,” Ponting added.
