New Delhi: Ricky Ponting's move on the fifth day of the Nagpur Test to employ part timers instead of his regular pacers after the tea interval has come under heavy criticism. The Australian skipper who wanted to step up the slow over-rate to avoid a ban in the next Test match was lambasted by former players and the Australian media.
The Australian, whose headline read -- 'Has Ponting cost Australia?' said: "Instead of striving to win the fourth Test here against India with his best bowlers, Ponting used part-timers to try to improve a dreadful over rate, which would have seen him rubbed out of the first Test in Brisbane against New Zealand this month."
The Age called Ponting's captaincy "baffling." It said that Ponting might have cost Australia a chance to square the series.
"In one of the most baffling displays of captaincy seen in the long and proud history of Australian cricket, Ricky Ponting has denied his side a well-deserved chance of securing a famous victory," it said.
"It is impossible to explain, let alone excuse, the tactics pursued by the Australia think tank. These events occurred directly after an interval. Somehow a group of experienced cricketers and leaders convinced themselves that the over rate was more important than the match," said another daily.
Former Australia captain Allan Border was furious with the Australian approach and rued how Ponting and his team allowed over-rate to become a serious distraction to their bid for a series-equalling win.
"I don't know what to make of all this. They go into the tea break on a high and come out worrying about over rates," Border said on air. "I am glad Ricky can't read my mind right now because he is not going to like it," an upset border said.
Ravi Shastri too came out hard at Ponting and said: "One thing Australia always did was put team before individual. In this case the individual would have been the Australian captain, who would have been docked or may have had to miss the Test match at the Gabba (against New Zealand) just in case Australia was behind the over rate.
"But in the quest to win the Test match I think the team should have been thought about more than anything else," said Shastri.
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Posted By rasxc
Ponting's only target is to break Sachin's record and become the highest run getter in test cricket and this is
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Posted By domkavala
Ricky Ponting's move on the fifth day of the Nagpur Test to employ part timers instead of his regular pacers
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