Ricky Ponting was not just fond of scoring centuries in his heyday as a player, the former two-time World Cup-winning Australia captain has revealed that whichever bat he scored an international century with, he had the exact score and name. Was collected together carefully. He wrote a note of protest on this. The 49-year-old Ponting, who is currently the head coach of Delhi Capitals, was one of the most dangerous big-hitters of his era and was speaking at DP World’s Beyond Boundaries initiative of handing over kits to young players in Delhi.
Ponting scored 71 international centuries during his illustrious playing career in 2012, 41 of which were in Tests.
“Believe it or not, I’ve still got my first bat at my house. It still has all the stickers and everything. We’ve probably had a thousand bats so far, some of them more special than others.
The usually reticent Ponting revealed, “I keep every bat with which I have scored an international century and I write on it, the score and who it was against.”
One of his most memorable innings was the World Cup-winning 140 not out against India in the final of the 2003 edition.
He almost single-handedly delivered the trophy to Australia by demolishing the Zaheer Khan-led Indian bowling attack.
Is that bat also included in his collection? “Yes, it does,” replied Ponting as then Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who is currently the Delhi Capitals director and was sharing the stage with the Australian here, looked on with a smile on his face.
But this memento is hidden at his home and is not shown to anyone.
“It’s not like I have it on display in my house. I keep them in my garage,” he said.
Ganguly also spoke at the event and recalled the time when he got his first bat.
“I remember having my first bat when I was 13 years old and how happy I was because the ball would hit the bat and fly away,” the former BCCI president said.
David Warner, who is playing for DC this season, said his first bat was a birthday gift.
“My uncle gave me my first bat on my birthday and it never left me and used to stay next to my bed,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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