Ricky Ponting to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
Australian great Ricky Ponting was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame on Monday, and will join other legends like Sir Donald Bradman, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne in an exclusive club, reports cricket.com.au. He will be officially inducted into the club in a gala ceremony on Wednesday.
Ponting only recently became eligible to join the prestigious member club which only accepts sportspersons after they have been retired from their sport for at least two years. The former batsman had announced his retirement from first-class cricket in mid-2013.
Ponting brought down curtains on his illustrious career as the leading run-scorer for Australia with 13,378 runs and also as the leading centurion with 41 tons in Tests, and it came as little surprise that the captain was included into a club that also features the likes of Sir Don Bradman, Steve Waugh, and Shane Warne.
Apart from his impressive Test record, Ponting also holds the Australian record for the most One-Day Internationals played. Ponting scored 13,704 runs in 375 ODIs, which included 30 centuries, yet another Australian record.
After his retirement, Ponting has had successful stints with commentary as well as coaching. He played an instrumental role as a mentor helping Mumbai Indians win the Indian Premier League (IPL) title earlier in 2015. His achievements haven’t gone unnoticed as Cricket Australia are reportedly keen to offer a similar role with the national team soon.
Ponting revealed that he has approached for the same but added that his TV commitments mean he would not be taking up the job in the near future.
"Cricket Australia are trying to get me involved in coaching in some way, shape or form, It's been spoken about over the last couple of months", Ponting said. "I know Boof (Darren Lehmann) would love me to be able to help out, but with my Big Bash TV commentary commitments it's a little bit hard to do it just yet. I'd honestly love to be back working with the Australian team because I'd like to think I have a lot to give.”
The two-time World Cup winning captain said that he’d love to impart his cricketing knowledge to the youngsters in the team in one form or the other in the future.
"I just love the young blokes I finished up playing with, the Warners, the Smiths, Nathan Lyon and guys just coming on when I was finishing. I'd love to get back to doing that — it might even be a cricket academy role — but it's not as easy as it sounds, unfortunately”, he commented.
In a month’s time from now, Ponting will be seen in Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar’s cricket All-Stars league in the US, alongside other legends like Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara.