Australian skipper Ricky Ponting not planning to step down
Australian captain Ricky Ponting has been under immense pressure since his team’s poor show in the Ashes series against England late last year. However, the veteran cricketer has denied rumours of retiring from the sport. Earlier, speculation was rife that
Ponting would bid farewell to cricket at the end of the ICC World Cup 2011.
However, Ponting stated, “I've never ever thought about retirement or where the finish line might be. I've been trying to prepare myself as best I can as a player and lead the team as well as possible.”
The 36-year-old further added that he was enjoying the sport. He said, “It looks like every few weeks now I'm having to answer that question. I'm enjoying it (cricket) as much as ever. We've got a big game coming up against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 that I'm looking forward
to.”
Ponting led his team to the World Cup title in 2003 and 2007 and remained unbeaten as a captain in the mega event during that run. In the ICC World Cup 2011, the Kangaroos extended their undefeated run to 34 matches before their game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
The Men-in-Green were the team that defeated http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in 1999, but the defending champions didn’t lose a match after that in three different World Cups. However, Pakistan proved to be the team that broke the Aussies unbeaten run in a Group A match.
This brought Ponting under a lot of criticism and there were reports that the veteran cricketer would be sacked from the captaincy after the mega event. However, this didn’t bother the Australian captain. He claimed that he would continue playing for the
team under any other leader.
The stylish batsman further said that he was enjoying his cricket and his fitness was good enough to continue playing the game at the highest level. However, there has been some concern over Ponting’s form, as he hasn’t been able to score a lot of runs in
the recent past.
Australia’s quarter-final match against India will be an opportunity for Ponitng to perform with the bat and win the game for his country. He has always been a big match player and his innings against the Men-in-Blue in the 2003 World Cup final is a prime
example of that.
Batting first, Australia scored a mammoth total of 359 runs for the loss of just two wickets. The highlight of the innings was an unbeaten 140 off 121 balls from Ponting, who dismantled the Indian bowling attack.
Australia won the match by a massive 125 runs and claimed the World Cup for the second consecutive time. If the Australian captain repeats such a performance in today’s match, it will be a huge confidence booster for him and his team.
The winners of today’s match will go onto face Pakistan, who have already qualified for the semi-final by defeating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, in Mohali on 30th April.
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