Australia’s former player, Ian Chappell wants the injured skipper, Ricky Ponting, to stay away from the team’s dressing room during the ongoing Ashes finale.
Ponting, who was dropped from the last match of the Ashes due to a finger injury, was seen in the team dressing room in Sydney.
Ponting was caught giving tips to the debutant left handed batsman, Usman Khawaja, before the match.
Chappell believed that Ponting needed to realise that he was not captaining the side in this Test. “I think there should be someone in the Australian set-up who says, 'Look Ricky, you're not captain in this game, Michael Clarke is'.”
Chappell was of the view that Michael Clarke should have full control on the team and Ponting should respect Clarke’s leadership abilities. He said, “I think it would have been better if Ricky had been away from the team and just left it to Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120.
It's not Michael Clarke's team as yet but I just think it would have been much fairer to Michael Clarke if Ricky Ponting hadn't been around."
However, it was reported that Clarke had no objections to Ponting’s role in the dressing room and in the nets. In fact, the stand-in skipper was pleased to get Ponting’s input on the behaviour of the wicket in Sydney because Ponting’s permanent residence
is in Sydney and he knows the wicket better than anyone else.
Ponting was replaced by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the history of the country.
Ponting’s own performance and form had been put into question because the veteran failed to give a commendable performance in the four matches that he played during the Ashes.
Last month, the chief executive of Cricket Australia (CA), James Sutherland gave a nod of approval to retain Ponting as the captain of the side after his injury gets better, however Chappell begs to differ with the CA chief. According to him, Ponting had
worn his captain’s cap for the last time in Melbourne. “(It's) unrealistic to talk about going on as the Australian captain. As far as I'm concerned, that was his last Test in Melbourne as Australian captain and it's time to move in a new direction", he said.
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