Ricky Ponting’s bold claims about Saim Ayub’s potential have resurfaced days after Pakistan suffered a T20 World Cup 2024 exit. Earlier this month, the former Australia captain spoke to The ICC Review, saying that the 22-year-old was a ‘proper player and a ‘star in the making.’
Referring to Pakistan’s Test series against Australia towards late 2023 and early this year, Ponting said, “I loved the look of Ayub out here during the Australian summer. He played that Test match in Sydney, I reckon it was and I didn’t know much about him then. When I’m sitting there commentating, I like to know about players and what they can do, so I actually went back and had a look at some of his PSL stuff. And he’s a proper player. I think he’s a real star in the making.”
Ponting was impressed with Ayub’s attacking style of cricket. But Ayub has failed to make a significant impact since the Australia tour. The youngster has only featured in T20Is for Pakistan. He has scored 309 runs in 23 games at an average of 14.71 and a strike rate of 122.13. He failed to live up to the expectations at the T20 World Cup 2024. The Karachi native was limited to just 23 runs in two matches. He achieved the figure at an average of 11.50 and a strike rate of 79.31.
While Ayub was backed by Ponting to become a major asset for Pakistan, Ramiz Raja did not feel the same about the youngster’s potential. Speaking on his YouTube channel ahead of the T20 World Cup, Ramiz had talked about how Ayub only showcased moments of brilliance instead of delivering consistent results for Pakistan. This is what he said as per media reports, “I don’t think Saim Ayub gives you security, he shows flashes of brilliance. If you don’t score 50 off 30 balls then breaking Rizwan and Babar’s opening duo doesn’t make any sense.”
So far, Raja’s words have seemingly rung true with Pakistan crashing out of the T20 World Cup early. Ayub’s lack of impact amongst other problems saw Pakistan concede early defeats to the co-hosts USA and arch-rivals India. They won their next games against Canada and Ireland but it was not enough for Pakistan to qualify for the Super Eight.
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