Australian cricket great Ricky Ponting has revealed that he still gets nightmares about Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who has dismissed him on 10 occasions in Test cricket, the highest by any bowler.
Speaking to reporters, Ponting said, “My arch nemesis when I was playing against India was Harbhajan Singh. I still get nightmares about him.”
The former Aussie skipper has been named as the brand ambassador of his home state Tasmania, and he will be promoting business, educational and other avenues of the state in India.
Ricky Ponting also reserved high praise for Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli, terming him as an ‘ultra-talented’ cricketer.
On being asked about the best batsman in the game right now, Ponting said, “To tell you the truth, I don’t really care. I just love to see all these guys playing.”
“Kohli probably has got age on his side. His ODI career till this stage has been incredible. We also know what he did in last year’s (hitting four hundreds). He is an ultra-skilled and talented player. More importantly, he has got the attitude to want to be the best he can be and wants to lead his country in the best way possible,” he added.
“Smith and Williamson are in the same boat. Whoever I guess masters the mind games the best will be the one who ends up with the best career record,” he opined.
On the proposed two-tier format for Tests, Ponting said, “Look, I am all for adding as much context to all formats of the game as possible. The Test championship and the two division competition have been talked about for a long time and here we are now, still have not been able to come up with the right program.”
The legendary batsman also had kind words for new Indian head coach Anil Kumble. “He has been one of the stalwarts of the game. He has obviously had great success both as player and captain. I got the chance to work with him at Mumbai Indians. He has got great knowledge of the game,” he said.
However, he refused to comment on Kumble’s prospects as a coach. “But it is down to the players to say and comment how great he is a coach. From the outside, you have no idea,” he said.
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