India vs Australia: Decoding the Ponting threat
Once a mighty leader, now struggling to have his stake in the team, Ricky Ponting's story was almost the biggest downfall an Australian captain has seen in the past few decades.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: December 24, 2011 01:00 PM IST
Once a mighty leader, now struggling to have his stake in the team, Ricky Ponting's story was almost the biggest downfall an Australian captain has seen in the past few decades. His vast array of strokes and experience although, were enough to keep the right-hander afloat for possibly the most crucial series in his career.
While his recent form has not been great with an average of 26 runs in the last 6 Test matches, Ponting's record against India down under has been more than impressive.
The right hander has scored over 1300 runs in 11 Test matches with an average of close to 80. The highlight of his career has been the 257-run innings that handed India a 9-wicket defeat. That innings however, has now perished in the folklore of Australian cricket which has faced a timeline parallel to that of Punter.
From Team India's perspective though, Punter however, remains to be the biggest threat to India's chances at the highly anticipated series, possibly a reason why his menace Ishant Sharma has been laid faith upon despite injury.
Ponting's Test career statistics
M | I | NO | Runs | HS | Ave. | 100 | 50 | 0 | SR | |
Overall | 158 | 270 | 28 | 12656 | 257 | 52.29 | 39 | 58 | 16 | 58.99 |
vs.India | 25 | 45 | 3 | 2011 | 257 | 47.88 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 57.35 |
vs.India in Australia | 11 | 20 | 3 | 1349 | 257 | 79.35 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 60.82 |
Till Dec.2006 | 109 | 182 | 25 | 9323 | 257 | 59.38 | 33 | 36 | 8 | 58.93 |
Since Jan.2007 | 49 | 88 | 3 | 3333 | 209 | 39.21 | 6 | 22 | 8 | 59.13 |
Home | 24 | 42 | 3 | 1564 | 209 | 40.10 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 61.30 |
Away | 23 | 42 | - | 1671 | 158 | 39.78 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 57.56 |
Neutral | 2 | 4 | - | 98 | 66 | 24.50 | - | 1 | 1 | 53.84 |
2007 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 192 | 56 | 38.40 | - | 2 | - | 55.65 |
2008 | 14 | 25 | - | 1182 | 158 | 47.28 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 59.93 |
2009 | 13 | 23 | 1 | 853 | 150 | 38.77 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 67.48 |
2010 | 12 | 23 | 1 | 813 | 209 | 36.95 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 56.93 |
2011 | 6 | 11 | - | 293 | 78 | 26.63 | - | 2 | 2 | 46.73 |