One of the greatest batters and leaders in the history of the game is largely considered as being Australian cricket star Ricky Ponting. Ponting's unwavering dedication to the game and remarkable batting prowess have earned him a place among the cricketing elite.
1. Born
Ricky Ponting, the eldest of Graeme and Lorraine Ponting's four children, was born on December 19, 1974, in Launceston, Tasmania.
2. Domestic Debut
Ponting made his first-class debut for Tasmania, when he was just 17 years and 337 days, becoming the state's youngest player to participate in a Sheffield Shield match. Rod Marsh regarded Ponting as the finest adolescent batter he had ever seen, and he began his career with Tasmania at the age of 17 and Australia at the age of 20.
3. Domestic Career
Ricky Ponting played for Tasmania as he scored 24150 runs at an average of 55.90 and has 82 centuries and 106 half-centuries in first class. In list-a career, he has not impressed much, but these stats are better than most batters. He has scored 16363 runs at an average of 41.74 and has 34 centuries and 99 half-centuries.
4. International Debut
He participated in all of Australia's games against South Africa and India in the 1995 New Zealand Centenary quadrangular competition. Ponting made his batting debut at position six against South Africa. He played both his debut T20 game against New Zealand and his first test against Sri Lanka in Perth.
5. International Career
One of Australia’s batters has ever produced has scored third most centuries in history. He has scored 13704 runs at an average of 42.03 and 30 centuries and 82 half-centuries in ODI cricket. His test cricket records are much better as he has scored 13378 runs at an average of 51.85 and scored 41 centuries and 62 half-centuries.
6. Nickname
Ricky Ponting's nickname 'Punter' was given to him by spin superstar and colleague Shane Warne, while Ponting was a member of the Australian Cricket Academy. Ponting's fondness for dog races and betting on them caused Warne to give him the moniker 'Punter.'
7. Australia Captaincy
Ponting is one of the most successful skippers in the longer format. He took over the captaincy of the Test team in 2004. He captained in 77 tests, winning 48 and losing just 16. In ODI, he has a win percentage of 77% as he has won 165 matches in the 230 games, he has captained.
8. Ashes Record
His record in the Ashes is the only thing he would like to forget in his career. Ponting holds a record of being the only Australian Test captain to have led his team to three separate Ashes series defeats. He has captained 19 matches and has won eight of them but has lost six of them.
9. Personal Life
Ponting attributed his increasing maturity to his long-term partner, law student Rianna Cantor, whom he married in June 2002. The couple has three kids.
10. IPL
Ricky Ponting never liked the T20 format, and that’s the reason we could see that he just played ten matches in Ipl and scored just 91 runs, but he would come back to coach teams in Ipl as he coached Mumbai Indians in three seasons and won the 2015 edition after MI, he is coaching Delhi Capitals from six seasons and being reasonably good but couldn’t win them an Ipl trophy.
