http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Gilchrist-c918 backs Ricky Ponting as captain of Australian cricket team
Former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has come out in support of Ricky Ponting and said that he should be retained as captain of the side even after the ongoing ICC World Cup 2011 ends.
There are strong rumours in the Australian media and in their cricketing ranks that Ponting should be sacked as the captain of the limited-over format of the game.
Gilchrist who is rated as the greatest wicketkeeper batsman of the history of the game believes that Ponting is the best batsman produced by Australia after Sir Donald Bradman and he has been leading his team in an exemplary manner since the last decade.
The former wicketkeeper gave the reference of the ICC World Cup 1999 when Steve Waugh was under immense pressure to win the title for his country and there were rumours that he would lose the job in case of a failure.
Gilchrist believes that the pressure of winning the world title brought the best out of Steve Waugh as he single-handedly won a crucial encounter against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 at Headingley. He feels that same is going to be the case with Ponting and one should not
be surprised if the Aussie captain comes good in the knockout stage of the tournament.
Gilchrist said, “I do know that in 1999 when there were rumours that Steve Waugh was told he would lose the captaincy if we bowed out of that World Cup, he scored one of the great World Cup hundreds ever against South Africa and we went on to win the World
Cup.”
Apart from the former wicketkeeper, the Australian team has also come out in support of their captain. Aussie middle order batsman Michael Hussey has said that Ponting is a champion and he is going to be back to his best in the quarter-final against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
“It's just amazing sometimes how champions just rise to the occasion at the right time. Against India in the World Cup is one of those times where I think we'll see the best of Ricky Ponting,” Hussey said.
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