Ponting & Gilchrist predict stars to top T20 WC scoring; Kohli overlooked despite Orange Cap heroics

As spotted at an airport on Thursday, Virat Kohli is getting ready to join the Indian team for the forthcoming T20 World Cup. After a stellar Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the former captain of India left for the United States. At 741 runs in 15 games, Kohli became the IPL 2024's leading scorer. Despite this outstanding performance, Australian cricket greats Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist did not endorse the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) player for the T20 World Cup.

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Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting leave Virat Kohli out as the top contender for T20 World Cup top scorer

In their forecasts for the ICC World T20 2024 top run scorer, World Cup winners Ponting and Gilchrist left out Kohli. The former Australian captain Ricky Ponting thought Travis Head, the opener, would have a big influence in the competition. He also predicted that Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will rule the bowling statistics, thinking Head would overtake Kohli to become the tournament's top run scorer.

Commenting on The ICC Review, Ponting singled out the play of Australian opener Travis Head. With 567 runs in 15 IPL 2024 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Ponting thought Head would excel in the next Twenty20 World Cup. Ricky Ponting said: 


“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,”

“His IPL had its ups and downs, but when it's been good, it's been very good. It has won games of cricket for his team. It'll be exactly the same for Australia. He might not be the most consistent on the way through this tournament, but he'll be right up there with the leading run scorers. As I've said, if he spends any amount of time at the wicket for Australia, he'll win more games than ever,” 

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Gilchrist's surprising pick made news during a recent Club Prairie Fire podcast episode. In sharing his opinions, the retired Australian wicketkeeper-batsman brought attention to Warner's difficult IPL 2024 season with the Delhi Capitals (DC). Warner's eight-game run total of just 168 was far from great. He struggled mightily, only managing to record one half-century in the 2024 competition, which was disappointing in the wealthy league. Gilchrist picked Warner as his top run-getter in the T20 World Cup and said: 

“I'm going go with David Warner. One big last hurrah,”