It is tough to comment on Ricky Ponting's retirement without mentioning the non retirement of the big white elephant in the room - Sachin Tendulkar.
It is safe to say however, that were Ricky Ponting Indian, his recent slump in form would have been brushed aside as a minor early-career slump and he would have at least given a decade more to compile largely meaningless 100s and assemble 3 more Ashes losses.
Fortunately he is Australian
 |
| It is easier to envision someone breaking Sachin Tendulkar's records. There may never be another Ricky Ponting however |
From an Indian point of view, I was never sure what was more pleasurable. Beating Australia or beating Ponting. To see him lose and struggle as a batsman in India early in his career was a special treat.
There was no question of liking him even though I did feel that the Australian media was unnecessarily too critical of him during Sydney 2008. I don't even think Ricky Ponting cared whether he was liked.
Many batsmen, after a good innings talk about how they simply responded to the match situation. In most cases its just a standard line batsmen say but it was only Ricky Ponting who I felt embodied that. Even among his peers there were far more destructive batsmen than him. Sachin Tendulkar (before he became just another cricketer) and Brian Lara come to mind. Only Ricky Pointing however, I felt, started every innings by answering the questions, "What do I need to do to win the game from here?".
It was a luxury neither Sachin nor Lara had. Ponting did and he made it count....
As Sachin's career has meandered with no specific goal in mind other than perhaps some perverted sense of personal gratification, Ponting sought gratification in wins. He would afford to, given the weapons he had around him.
One day, however it is easier to envision someone breaking Sachin Tendulkar's records. There may never be another Ricky Ponting however.
5 comments:
Except that he has been having a horrible laswt 5 years and hung on to his place like a puppy dog. His only significant innings in last 4 years is a 209 after a first ball drop by a Pakistani fielder, who was later jailed for spot-fixing, and a cashing-in against a toothless Indian attack.
Around the aussie blog world, there have been merciless panning of him as clinging to his place.
Yet, since it suits you to insult Tendulkar, you chose to compare him in favourable light against Tendulkar, when in truth, he has been worse than Tendulkar in hanging on to his place. Just in the last two years, Tendulkar has a truly great innings against an awesome Saffer atatck in S Africa, and prior to that, he was in top form for 2 years.
If Tendulkar be judged by Ponting standards, he can hang on for another 2 years if he can string together a couple of 100s against a sub-standard India-like attack.
The revisionist history being written by Tendulkar haters is amazing...
(Tendulkar has to retier now is a different discussion - I do feel he could have retired after the NZ series but it is not done to compare him unfavourably to limpet Ponting. Ask your Aussie blogger acquaintances...)
Gol -
Tendulkar deserves his share of criticism, but this piece should have been about Ponting.
Ponting strode the batting world like a colossus from late 1998 through 2008. No one came close to dominating attacks the way he did, including Tendulkar, Kallis and others. Several batsmen scored runs, but Ponting dominated like no one else. An era has ended. Tendulkar is finished too, he's still hanging on, but the era led by Lara, Ponting and Tendulkar with Inzy, Yousuf, Dravid, Laxman, Chanders, Gilly and Hayden thrown in is over.
Kallis, DPMD, Sanga are the tailend of this fabled time. Clarke, Amla, Pietersen, Cook et al seem to be writing the new scripts...
Ricky Ponting is one of the most decorated players to ever don the Baggy Green. Boasting more records than any other player in Australian history, Ponting has scored the most Test and ODI runs for his country, has had the most wins as a player, a captain and has taken the most catches by a non-wicket-keeper.
With 13,346 runs in his 165 Tests, it is hard to believe that there are still a host of critics who want the former skipper out of the national side.
awesome post
well he as such a good player and when he retired I felt so sad because I admire him so much and I wanted to keep seeing him playing, but that is life
Post a Comment