Ricky Ponting Reveals His Biggest Regrets As Australia's Skipper

In a recent chat with Sky Sports, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting opened up on the biggest regrets from his glittery career. Despite having led the Aussies to two World Cup triumphs in 2003 and 2007, Ponting still regrets losing The Ashes in 2005, and 2009.

The 45-year-old was at the helm between 2002 and 2011 in ODI cricket. Under his captaincy, Australia became a formidable force in the limited-overs format. He was the skipper of Test team from 2004 to 2011 and tasted massive success in the purest format as well.

Ponting is considered one of the best batsmen of all time, and he led Australia to 165 wins in 230 matches across all formats, with a staggering win ratio of 76.14%.

However, despite all the successes and the World Cup titles, the veteran still has a few regrets as he reflected back on his career.

Also Read: When Tim Paine Felt Like ‘Standing Up’ Against Virat Kohli

Ricky Ponting reveals that losing the Ashes hurt him the most:

For all the glorious years of success as Australia’s captain, Ponting was able to win just one of four Ashes series in his reign. England got the better of them one three occasions, in 2005, 2009, and in 2010-11.

In fact, in his interview, with Sky Sports, as part of their Captain’s Log podcast series, ‘Punter’ as he is lovingly called, stated that the first two Ashes defeats hurt him the most.

“The first two probably hurt more because we were expected to win more, certainly in 2005,” said Ponting.

“Everyone in 2005 expected us to just come over here, whitewash them [England] again and come back with the Ashes. That didn’t happen that way. Certainly, for me, the 2005 defeat was the hardest to cope with. But 2010-11, we were just completely outplayed,” he added. 

In his glittery career, Ponting donned the famous Australian jersey in 375 ODIs. Moreover, he amassed 168 Test caps and took part in 17 T2oI matches before retiring from the gentleman’s game.

Also Read: Cricket Australia Hopeful Of Hosting Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 As Per Schedule