He is lightyeaes ahead of dravid. He is way better than Tendulkar.
Indian fans are too nostalgic. They overrate their batsmen.
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Was Ricky Ponting as great as his statistics showed?
- Thread starter Harsh Thakor
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He is lightyeaes ahead of dravid. He is way better than Tendulkar.
Indian fans are too nostalgic. They overrate their batsmen.
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"Have Every Bat That I Scored An International Century With": Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting was not just into amassing hundreds in his heydays as a player, the two-time World Cup winning former Australia captain has revealed that he also meticulously collected every bat with which he scored an international ton, complete with the exact score and the name of opposition written on it by him. The 49-year-old Ponting, who is currently the head coach of Delhi Capitals, was one of the most feared big-hitters of his era and was speaking at the DP World's Beyond Boundaries initiative of handing out kits to young players in Delhi.
Ponting scored 71 international hundreds, a staggering 41 of them in Tests, during his illustrious playing career that drew to a close in 2012.
"Believe it or not, I have still got my first bat at my home. It still has all the stickers and everything on it. We literally have had probably a thousand of bats by now, some are more special than others.
"I kept every bat I scored an international hundred with and I write on it, the score and who it was against of," the usually reticent Ponting revealed.
One of his most memorable knocks was the World Cup-winning unbeaten 140 against India in the 2003 edition's final.
He pulverised the Indian bowling attack led by Zaheer Khan to almost single-handedly clinch the trophy for Australia.
Does that bat feature in his collection too? "Yes it does," pat came Ponting's reply even as the then India captain Sourav Ganguly, who is currently the Delhi Capitals Director and was sharing the dias with the Australian here, looked on with a smile on his face.
But this memorabilia is hidden away at his home and is not meant to be showed to anyone.
"It's not like it's displayed in my house. I keep those in my garage," he added.
Ganguly also spoke at the event and recalled the time he got his first bat.
"I remember I had my first bat when I was 13 and how happy I was because the ball would just fly off the bat," the former BCCI President said.
David Warner, who is playing for DC this season, said his first bat was a birthday present.
"My uncle got me my first bat for my birthday, and it never left my side and used to be next to my bed," he said.
Local.Dada
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If you have followed most of Ponting’s career like I have, you don’t need to look at his stats. He is a bonafide ATG. That should end the debate.
big_gamer007
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Great player and his peak was truly scary.
I would rank him behind only a few batsmen in history of cricket.
I would rank him behind only a few batsmen in history of cricket.
Statpadder Inc
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Ponting was an incredible player, one of the Goats and a clutch batsman too.
Stats don't mean everything, younus khan had a slightly better average than ponting but he wouldn't come close to Ponting in a million years and was galaxies below him.
Stats don't mean everything, younus khan had a slightly better average than ponting but he wouldn't come close to Ponting in a million years and was galaxies below him.
Timewaster
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Ponting like Smith was a hand eye player, and as soon as they lost the reflexes their averages dropped, Ponting was over 60 like Smith at one stage, but dropped fast,
Where as batters with good techniques lke Sachin, Dravid and Williamson today can go towards playing at 40+
Where as batters with good techniques lke Sachin, Dravid and Williamson today can go towards playing at 40+
mominsaigol
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Pointing is leagues > Smith. Pointing has probably the best technique I've ever seen, one of the greatest orthodox bats while Smith just dances around the crease and isn't really pleasing on the eye.
But both of them were reflex players I agree.
Hitman
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Right up there with the likes of Viv, Sachi ... err, I mean Younis Khan, and Lara.
jeeteshssaxena
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How does that matter?
Smith has a way better away record in a much more bowling friendly era while Ponting batted in probably the easiest era ever for batsman ( talking about test cricket here)
Smith has produced more spectacular performances than Ponting in Ashes as well as Border Gavaskar series.
Anongst Australian batsman Ponting probably comes at number 6
Bradman
Steve Smith
Greg Chappel
Allan Border
Steve Waugh
Ricky Ponting
Hitman
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Border hails Ponting as "best since Bradman"
Ricky Ponting has been lauded as the best Australian batsmen since Don Bradman after breaking Allan Border's national test aggregrate in the third Ashes test at Edgbaston.
Border personally bestowed the honour on Ponting after the Tasmanian surpassed his record of 11,174 test runs against England on Friday to become Australia's all-time leading runscorer.
With no one able to come close to Bradman's career average of 99.94, the argument over who is Australia's second best has raged for decades but Border said it was hard to look past Ponting.
"Ricky's done it all. I think he's probably our second-best batsman after Bradman," Border told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.
"He's got all the shots and the fact he pulls and cuts so well makes him very difficult to bowl to.
"Ricky can also take on pace. He's pretty fearless.
"I just reckon when you've got those sort of qualities you're a pretty complete player."
Ponting overtook Border's record in his 134th test, 22 less than the former skipper, with a superior average of 56.22, compared to Border's 50.56.
The 34-year-old is now third overall behind India's Sachin Tendulkar (12,773) and West Indian Brian Lara (11,953) with potentially years left in him to reach the summit.
Ponting was earmarked for greatness at a very young age. An aggressive right-hander raised in the Tasmanian city of Launceston, he made his test debut just before his 21st birthday in 1995.
RESPECTED PLAYER
A dubious umpiring decision cost him a century on debut and his early career was troubled.
He was dropped a year after his debut and twice found himself in trouble with officials after being involved in nightclub scuffles.
But Ponting quickly learnt from his mistakes and developed a maturity that saw him not only score a mountain of runs but also become one of the most respected players in world cricket.
He replaced Steve Waugh as Australian one-day captain in 2002 then took over as test skipper a year later.
He led Australia to victory at the last two World Cups and has won a staggering 17 of the 20 test series in which he has been in charge.
His winning strike rate of 85 percent is the highest by any test skipper who has led their team in at least five series yet his captaincy has never received the same recognition as his batting.
At the same time as he should have been celebrating his achievement in overtaking Border, Ponting was left battling to avoid another record.
He was heavily criticised when Australia lost the Ashes in England in 2005 and despite leading his team to a 5-0 cleansweep at home in 2006-07, he is suddenly in danger of becoming the first Australian captain since 1890 to lose two Ashes series in England.
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Hitman
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I personally put G. Chappell and Ponting in the same category. Then there's Neil Harvey who is rated extremely highly by those who saw him play. All 3 of them were naturally talented strokemakers. Border and S. Waugh were different. They were extremely gritty.
