Ricky Ponting Ricky Ponting Ricky Thomas Ponting, AO (born 19 December 1974), is an Australian former international cricketer, and two-time World Cup winning captain in 2003 and 2007, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its 'golden era'; between 2004 and 2011 in Tests and 2002 and 2011 in One Day Internationals (ODIs). He is a specialist right-handed batsman, an excellent slip / close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He was named "Cricketer of the decade 2000". He led Australia to victory at the 2003
Ricky Ponting with the Australian cricket team in India in 2008–09 earlier in the year. He had also struggled in a previous three Test series during 2001, scoring 17 runs at 3.40. Ponting acknowledged prior to the series that he was keen to rectify his poor Test batting record in India, believed to be because of his weakness against spin bowling. Though, from 1 January 2004 up until the start of the first Test, Ponting scored 1510 runs and an average of 83.88 in 64 innings against spin bowling, thus being the only Australian to score more than 1,300 runs and average over 70. Australia headed into the First Test at