Ricky Ponting sweating over the possibility of abdicating Australian team’s captaincy
Australian selectors on Monday said the next One Day International squad is to be announced on Wednesday, giving Ponting a time frame of only three days to decide his future. Ponting lost the 2010-11 Ashes series at home after 24 years and added the loss of Australia's World Champions crown recently. He is reported to be considering stepping down from captaincy.
The Aussie skipper who recently returned from the subcontinent, after his team’s exit from the ICC World Cup 2011 said he will have to decide about his position in the squad for the future matches, the first of which is due to take place in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in April 2011.
He said, "I'll have the opportunity over the next couple of days to reflect on where things are headed for me and certainly what direction I feel things are heading for the betterment of Australian cricket.”
Ponting expressed his desire of leading the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 team for their Bangladesh tour in April’11 for the three ODIs. However, he added that he sees himself as a leader, but will have no issues in playing at any position even if it means stepping down from captaincy.
“I see myself as a leader around the group, simple as that, whether I'm captain or not I still think I've got a lot to offer as far as leadership qualities go,” he added.
The 2011 World Cup proved to be a difficult tournament as a captain for Ponting. In Australia's first game in the tournament, he hit a dressing room TV with his bat in fury after being run out. He was also castigated for angrily throwing the ball to the ground after he collided with teammate Steve Smith during their match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, Ponting also came under fire for not walking out after he nicked a ball to Kamran Akmal.
The 36-year-old Ponting started his ODI career in 1995 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757. In his 359 ODIs, he has scored 13288 runs at an average of 42.58. Ponting’s score of runs include 25 hundreds in ODIs which is considered to be the second highest score earned by any cricketer, after Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar. He is the only player who has so far scored 30 6s in World Cups.
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