Ricky Ponting the great - Batsman, Skipper and Sledger

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest captains of modern times and surely one of the greatest batsmen of modern era, Ricky Ponting.

Ponting had a long and very fulfilling career with many milestones, ugly spats, and records to his name. He ended up playing 168 Tests, scoring 13,378 runs at an average of 51.85. He scored 41 centuries with the best of 257 to his name. In the ODI format, he played 375 ODIs with 13,704 runs and 30 centuries with the best of 164 runs.

Let’s take a more detailed look in into the life of Punter (his nickname), the man who went onto become one of the greatest Australian captains and batsmen.

1. International debut and heartbreak:

Finally, he got his international break against New Zealand for the 1995 New Zealand Centenary Quadrangular tournament. His debut came against South Africa and he batted at no.6 and scored 1 run off 6 balls. He made his first 50 in ODI cricket against India in Dunedin making 62 off 92 balls in a losing cause.

All throughout playing ODI cricket for Australia he was on the cusp of making his Test debut and that dream came true when he finally played his first Test against the Sri Lankans. He walked in at no.5 with Australia on 422/3. He played marvelously tackling the spin of Muralitharan and the guile of Vaas.

But he encountered the heart break of falling short of a debut Test century, when he was trapped LBW by Chaminda Vaas on 96. Replays showed that the ball was going over the top of the wickets, but with not referrals at that time, Ponting walked back to the pavilion for 96.