The Phenomenon That Is Ricky Ponting

Captains around the world have succumbed to the endless pressures of captaining their sides for a long period of time. Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Michael Vaughan, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Flintoff, Sachin Tendulkar and others were all having a difficult time dealing with the press, the fans, the selectors and the unreasonably high expectations every time they led their teams on to the field.

The camera focusses on the frowning skipper’s face everytime an edge flies through a gap in the slip cordon. The journalists struggle to censor themselves when the disconsolate captain explains a humiliating defeat. Almost every captain has had to step down because he’s either too tired or too hated.

One man has battled his share of battles, seen his share of lows. He has frequently been  welcomed with boos from the opposite nation’s fans when he comes out to bat, received criticism for many decisions as a captain, been accused of not playing in the spirit of the game, always expected to live upto his batting average, and always expected to bring the cup back home.

But Ricky Ponting has not yet yielded, and if the grit his eyes still show are any proof, the final chapters of his legacy are yet to be written.

His form has not been as remarkable as it was in the earlier half of this decade, but what he lacks in form, he makes up with grit. He doesn't have great players at his disposal anymore, but he has backed his young players, not once showing disappointment with any one of his teammates on the field. 

Yes, he has made his share of mistakes as a captain, whether it be slow-over rates, or bowling part-timers instead of specialist bowlers in Nagpur when there was a chance to level the series in 2008 against India.

And he got some flak all right. But he didn’t resign in self-righteousness, or complain about the rigours of captaincy, or apologise in self- deprecating tones. He simply refused to look at the newspapers, and moved forward, learning from his mistakes, and planning for his next outing.

Why am i writing this? Ponting hasn’t announced retirement, or scored a triple century, or led his team to 16 Test wins in a row. I am writing this because he is suffering what a lot of great sprotsmen have had to suffer—he’s being taken for granted.

If Ponting disappointed his countrymen with some of his tactics in the past, he has surely done enough since to merit an acknowledgement from them. He has grown as a captain, as a tactician, and even with the opposition teams studying his batting videos endlessly to note the cracks in his armoury, he is still finding ways and means of making runs.

He’s played Flintoff particularly well this series, making a conscious effort to get behind the line of the ball, and try not to hit on the up. And did he play the short ball well at Edgbaston. He was cutting and pulling Harmison and Anderson effortlessly, on a pitch that offered a fair degree of movement and bounce.

Ricky Ponting epitomizes a No. 3 Test batsman, a batsmen who can take advantage of a good start given by the openers with some flamboyant strokes, or who can play a hard-fought gritty innings on the last day to keep his side afloat. And if age is robbing him off his reflexes when he fields in the point or slip region, he isn’t showing it.

The final Ashes Test looms in the distance. Ponting has led his side well up until now and will not take his foot off the pedal. There have been few rivalries and contests that have matched Flintoff steaming in to bowl to Ponting. One cannot hype it enough.

That glorious chapter will surely figure in the legacy of Ricky Ponting.