Ponting was bought by the Mukesh Ambani-owned Mumbai Indians franchise for $400,000 at the recently held auction in Chennai. Ponting will lead a side already comprsing stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh.
MI's chief mentor Anil Kumble revealed the news in a media release and said that the decision was jointly taken by Tendulkar and himself.
“Ricky has a lot of experience to lead a competitive and a high-profile side like Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Sachin [Tendulkar] readily agreed to my suggestion that Mumbai Indians is best served when he leads the batting unburdened by the rigours of captaincy. It was our idea [Sachin and mine] to bring in Ricky as the captain of the Mumbai Indians," Kumble said.
