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Tag: Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting Breaks Down In Emotional Tribute To Shane Warne

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting broke down tears while giving tribute to his former teammate Shane Warne. Warne passed away on Friday. aged 52 after suffering a heart attack in Thailand. The news of his tragic demise sent shockwaves across the cricketing world.

Ponting was speaking on Warne and soon he could not keep back his tears. He took a moment to collect himself before starting to speak again.  Ponting admitted that he was shocked just like other fan, “I was shocked I think like probably the rest of the world. I mean I’ve got the messages when I woke up this morning. I went to bed last night knowing that I had to take my daughters for netball and then was confronted with what didn’t seem quite real at that time and even now probably doesn’t really seem like it’s real either so I’ve had a few hours now to digest it all and think about how a part of my life he was and reflect on a lot of those memories through the years,” Ponting said.  

“Halfway through my career when we turned up to do coaching clinics and whatever else, every young kid in Australia wanted to be more than one of the bold leg spinners. He is going to down down as one of the all-time greats of the game if not one the greatest. I’ve never played with a more better and competitive bowler, someone who changed and revolutionised spin bowling back into,” he added. 

https://youtu.be/Q96XCvpic8E

“Hard to put this into words. I first met him when I was 15 at the Academy. He gave me my nickname. We were teammates for more than a decade, riding all the highs and lows together. Through it all he was someone you could always count on, someone who loved his family,” Ponting had tweeted.

Warne was one of the most influential cricketers and is credited to have single-handedly revived the art of bowling leg-spin. He  finished his international career with 708 Test wickets and a further 293 in One-Day Internationals, placing him second in the list of all-time international wicket-takers behind his great friend and rival Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka.

It’s hard to put a finger on him as a player or character’ : Ricky Ponting on Rishabh Pant

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Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting says Pant is a fun-loving and energetic player. He spoke about the importance of letting Rishabh Pant  be himself to get the most out of him. Ponting, having seen Gilchrist and Pant from close quarters, revealed the similarities and differences between the two figures.

“Yeah, little bit the same,” said Ponting. “I know Rishabh’s really burst onto the scene, but let’s just let him play his 50-60 Test matches first before we start making comparisons to one of the all-time great wicket-keeper batters. But if you think about their personalities – Rishabh is a lot more outward, a lot louder, a lot noisier and ultra-competitive. Gilly was ultra-competitive as well, but a lot quieter and reserved, until he got his bat in his hand and then he became exactly the same as Rishabh” ,speaking on The ICC Review, Ponting said.

Ponting has worked closely with Pant during his time as coach of the Delhi Capitals, Pant captained to the playoffs in his first season in the role in 2021. “It’s a bit hard to put a finger on him as a player or a character. What you see with his cricket is exactly what he is off the field. He is fun-loving and energetic. He is not much of a risk-taking guy off the field; he is always a fun guy to be around. He is always laughing loud, and you always know when he is in the room. You know when he is playing cards or you know when he is about to walk into the team meeting.” Ponting added.

Ponting feels that with Pant having a lot of scores of 90 in Test cricket, he must have followed the same approach. “Rishabh will be exactly the same. If you look at Rishabh – I am not sure how many Test hundreds he’s got – but he has a few 90s in there. And he’s actually got out trying to bring up his hundred with a six. That’s the good and the bad, right?”
Ponting further added.

“I was shocked”: Ricky Ponting on Virat Kohli’s decision to step away from Test Captaincy

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was surprised by Virat Kohli when he decided to step down as the captain of the Indian Test team. While Ponting said that Virat Kohli should be proud of his achievements as Test captain, especially the way he prioritized the longest format.

“Yes, it did actually surprise me. Probably the main reason why is I had a chat and good catch-up with Virat during the first part of the IPL before it got postponed. He was talking then about stepping away from white-ball cricket and how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. He just loved and cherished that job and that post so much. Obviously, the Indian Test team had achieved a lot under his leadership. When I heard it, I was really, really surprised,” In an interview with ICC, legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said.

Ponting said that Virat was one of the most passionate players to play the test format. Although, Ponting added that he can understand Virat’s decision of stepping down as a Test captain.

“You only have to watch him on the field for an hour of the day’s play to realize how passionate he is about that job and the role, and how much he wants the team to win and how much he wants the best for Indian cricket. I was shocked, but then I started thinking about other things, even my own time as captain. I have gone on record and said that I probably think I played a couple of years longer than I should have in hindsight. I think I might have been captain for a couple of years longer than I should have,” he added.

“So I think there is potentially a shelf-life for international cricket captains and even coaches. Virat’s been there for close to seven years now. If there’s a country in the world that’s the most difficult to captain, it’s probably India because of just how popular the game is and how much every single Indian loves to see the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, whether they are good or bad. You weigh all those things up,” said Ponting.