Ricky Ponting reveals how he got the nickname 'Punter'

Ricky Ponting is one of the greatest batsmen and captains to ever grace the field of international cricket. He is the highest run-getter for Australia in both formats of the game with 13378 runs in 168 Tests and 13704 runs in 375 ODIs from a period of 1995-2012. He also played 17 T20I matches and made 401 runs with the highest score of 98*, in the very first T20I ever.

Ponting recently joined social media messaging platform Twitter, and was welcomed by his former teammates with aplomb and has gained more than 59 thousand followers in a very short time. Given that the culture of the Australian cricket team, Ricky Ponting also got a nickname that has stuck with him even till now. He was called Punter for some reason, which was a well-known fact, but he reveals the story on Twitter himself.

Shane Warne named Ricky Ponting ‘Punter’ for his love of betting  

The word punt in Australian lingo means to place a bet on something usually on horse races or dog races. Ricky Ponting is an avid fan of betting on dog races and regularly placed money on greyhound dog races and horse races and this led his teammate Shane Warne to give him a nickname of Punter based on it. The moniker stuck with the Australian captain even till now.

On Twitter, Ponting elaborated the fact when asked by a fan. He said that during the 1990s, he was paid $40/month while living in the cricket academy. Therefore, to make ends meet, Ponting used to place money on bets on dog races and hence Shane Warne began calling him Punter. “We were getting paid $40 a month when we were living at the cricket academy in 1990. I used to go to the TAB to have a bet on the dogs and @ShaneWarne gave me the nickname,” Ponting tweeted.

Well, Ponting usually had a keen cricketing mind while leading the great side of the 2000s which ruled the world and even his risks on the field paid off quite handsomely. In 77 Tests as captain, Ponting led Australia to wins in 48 matches, while in 230 ODI matches, he won 165 matches and lost 51 ODIs. He also won two World Cups as captain in 2003 and 2007, while being part of the 1999 World Cup-winning team as well.