Who is Ricky Ponting? - A loyal Indian cricket fan

‘Ricky Ponting retires from international cricket. What a great player he was!’

Such hue and cry is spamming my wall on the Social Media. Being an Indian cricket fan, I seriously don’t know the time when Ponting became our superhero. I can’t even recall a moment when the fans praised Ponting during his playing days. He has remained our villain since I remember watching cricket.

I do accept that he was a good international cricketer. But by seeing all these tributes pouring in, I really have a doubt on the nationality of the people around me. You might convince me in calling him a ‘great’ or that ‘he was the most feared batsman’ et al. But for me, Sachin Tendulkar is the ‘Hulk’, Rahul Dravid is the ‘Iron Man’, VVS Laxman is the ‘Captain America’ and Sourav Ganguly is the ‘Thor’. Having grown up idolising these names, Punter has been the ‘loki’.

I have always celebrated the dismissal of Ponting and I have never applauded him for any fine shot. His retirement brought instant smile onto my face and never did I whine on his decision to leave the game. But when Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman retired, I did feel in my heart, the immense grief.

I am really happy to see no more of Ponting in India’s upcoming series against the Aussies because I get nightmares of the World Cup 2003 final and the Adelaide and Perth tons. I don’t want Indian bowlers being carted away to the boundaries by him. But now, I can claim that ‘Ponting feared Indian bowlers and that made him hang his boots earlier that he would have wanted’.

He might not have the same strength and power of the devil we witnessed earlier, but still against India, he will remained the same daredevil. In fact, I was upset when I saw him score two boundaries in his final innings rather than being dismissed for a duck. If you call me ‘mean person’ for this, then I am that ‘mean Indian cricket fan’ filled of pride.

I feel deeply outraged when people compare him with Sachin because there’s simply no need to argue for that. For me, he is nowhere near the best No.3 as Dravid remains the best batsman in the history of the game at that position. He wasn’t the best captain either as Ganguly and MSD always look superior to me. He is not the best fielder either, as Yuvraj and Raina are always much better fielders than Punter. Any questioning on the above stated facts, and I will simply go ahead and give you one simple reason – ‘Ponting is not an Indian.’

You might tell me in Ravi Shastri’s words, ‘Cricket is the real winner,’ but I will come back, saying, ‘My country’s success comes first for me, everything else is secondary.’ Thousands of fans applauded when he raised his bat coming out from the WACA, but I am quite sure he would have felt bad for his string of poor scores, the thought of which makes me feel even better.

When I hate Ponting this much as an Indian cricket fan, I am not really sure of how these fanatics shower in praises for this mean, selfish and rude cricketer, in my opinion. Lots of Indian cricketers and famous critics may hail Pointing for his supposed ‘greatness’, but as an ardent fan of the Indian Cricket team, one thing is final: ‘I hate you Ricky Ponting.’