Published: Dec 26, 2011, 12:02 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 26, 2011, 12:02 AM (IST)
An expert analysis video about the out-of-form Australian batsman Ricky Ponting. The former Australian captain has gone through a slump in recent times, and needs to score big in the upcoming Test series against India.
Speculations have mounted that Ponting will be dropped as repeated failures have pushed Punter to the edge and Allan Border has also called for his retirement.
It is 30 innings and almost two years now since the last of Ricky Pontings 39 test hundreds. It would be 47 innings if the butterfingered Pakistanis hadn't dropped him on 0 in Hobart in January 2010.
He went on to make 209, but there have been no three-figure scores since for Australia's self-appointed protector of the faith. That is a long time. He failed twice against New Zealand in Tasmania and could only watch helplessly as the Kiwis stole a remarkable win to level the series 1-1.
His batting has no rhythm – he shuffles erratically across the crease, lunges at the ball, and pushes hopefully at regulation deliveries he would once have confidently repelled.
None of his familiar strokes – the ease through mid off, the stinging cut, the savage pull – are played with any confidence or fluency.
When batsmen are in form they think about nothing, when they are out of form they think about everything. Ponting bats like a man with a lot on his mind.
