Australian great Ricky Ponting says he played 2 years longer than he should have
In a shock admission, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has admitted that he probably played international cricket for 2 years more than he should have.
Ponting, 2nd highest run-scorer in international cricket after Sachin Tendulkar, retired after the South Africa Test series at home in 2012. He played his last ODI earlier that year against India.
Speaking to Sky Sports in an interview, Ponting said, “I probably played two years longer than I should have done. I think I knew in myself that I couldn’t get better.
“I felt that if anything, I could maintain a certain level. I think from 120, 130 Tests I knew I could not get any better.
Ponting left the captaincy after the quarterfinal exit in 2011 World Cup, and played under Michael Clarke for the rest of his career. However, he was a shadow of his old self, averaging a modest 37.59 in last 2 years of his career. On a personal front, his best in that period came against India in the 2011-12 home series, where he struck a century and a double century, helping hosts complete a whitewash.
The Australian great was dropped midway through the tri-nation Commonwealth Bank ODI series in 2012 after a series of poor performances, after which he announced his decision to retire from ODIs. However, his scores of 4, 14, 7, 41, 23, 57, 0, 4, 16, 4, 8 against West Indies and Australia that year in Tests led to his complete retirement from all forms of cricket.
“I wasn’t playing for me, I was playing for the younger guys in the team. Great teams that I played in had a really good solid core of experienced players and great characters,” Ponting said. “I might be patting myself on the back here, but I thought I was one of those players.”