'I was shocked like the rest of the world' - Ricky Ponting breaks down while paying last tribute to Shane Warne

Former Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, broke down into tears in his tribute to former teammate and friend, Shane Warne, who passed away due to a heart attack on March 4th. Ponting was visibly heartbroken and found it challenging to hold himself back having been a close colleague of the famed cricketer for over two decades.

Talking about the cricketer’s untimely demise, Ponting stated he was in a state of shock on being confronted with the tragic news. He further discussed it taking time for him to digest what had transpired as it did not seem real to him, given the sudden nature of the passing. The 47-year-old also spoke about taking his time to process all the moments he had shared with the now-late cricketer.

“I was shocked I think like probably the rest of the world. I mean I’ve got the messages when I woke up this morning. I went to bed last night knowing that I had to take my daughters for netball and then was confronted with what didn’t seem quite real at that time and even now probably doesn’t really seem like it’s real either so I’ve had a few hours now to digest it all and think about how a part of my life he was and reflect on a lot of those memories through the years,” Ponting said, as quoted by The Hindustan Times.

Shane Warne hailed by Ricky Ponting as one of the greatest cricketers ever

Ponting reserved the choicest of praises for Warne terming the legendary cricketer as one of the all-time greats. He talked about the leg spinner revolutionizing the art of spin bowling by regarding him as the most competitive bowler in the game. Notably, Ponting had captained the bowler for a majority of his international playing career with the duo bringing many laurels to Australia over their playing careers.

The Melbourne-born cricketer had left the cricketing world stunned when the news of his demise was first broken. Many past and current cricketers have since expressed their disbelief and sorrow. There have been several tributes pouring in for one of Australia’s greatest sportspeople from various cricketing quarters around the globe.

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