'Wish I did' - Ricky Ponting regrets not revealing his love to Shane Warne before his untimely demise

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was quite emotional about the sudden demise of his close friend and teammate Shane Warne at the age of 52. Warne had passed away on March 4 during his holiday visit to a hotel in Thailand due to a suspected heart attack and the whole cricketing fraternity was taken aback by the incident.

Warne is considered to be one of the all-time legends of the game and he is by far, the best leg-spinner to have played the game. He was the first bowler to pick up 700 Test wickets and has more than 1000 international wickets for Australia, which is a humungous feat for any cricketer. Apart from his bowling, Warne has been an excellent captain in IPL as well as in BBL, and his views and analysis have been followed widely around the world.

Ricky Ponting reveals how he reacted to the shocking news

Ponting with teary eyes mentioned that he would have revealed the love for Warne to him if he had last one conversation before the latter’s death and regretted not doing it. He added that he was getting ready for netball until his wife had informed the sad news to him.

“I would say just how much I love him. I didn’t say that to him and I wish I did. I woke up nice and early I was getting the kids ready to go to netball and Rianna (Ponting’s wife) looked at her phone and told me the news about Warney,” Ponting told Isa Guha on the ICC Review on the final conversation he would have liked with Warne.

He noted that he was numb in shock with no words coming out and his mind went back to the times he had shared with Warne in the Australian dressing room for years. He concluded that Warne’s sudden passing away has been tough to digest.

“I grabbed the phone out of her hand to look at it and I couldn’t believe it and it is still the same now. It was so raw to me I couldn’t really speak and every time I thought about him and our experiences and our journey together and I just got short for words. Even today I have had the TV on watching the tributes, but every time I hear his voice I have to turn it off. It’s been a tough couple of days, but it makes us a bit more aware of things I probably need to pay more attention to and there is stuff there for all of us to learn.” he added.