Ricky Ponting is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters to have played cricket, boasting 27,483 runs in international cricket and being the fourth-highest run-scorer ever.
During his playing career, he had quite a few contemporaries who competed with him in terms of their batting skills.
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Since retiring, he has taken on multiple roles as a coach and broadcaster while keeping a close eye on modern-day batters.
After Joe Root surpassed his tally of Test runs, Ponting included him among the five most skillful batters he had ever seen.
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Only one other batter from Martin Crowe’s “Fab Four” made the list — and surprisingly, it wasn’t Virat Kohli.
Find out the other four batters who caught Ponting’s eye below.
Ponting names his top 5 most skillful batters in cricket
During his recent interview with the Sunday Times, Ponting noted the difficulties of planning against West Indies legend Brian Lara as Australian captain. He remarked that La equally adept against spin and pace.
He also included Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in the list but did not mention Virat Kohli, despite the Indian World Cup winner surpassing his international run tally recently.
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Kohli, who has a whopping 82 international centuries to his name for his 27599 runs, failed to make it to Ponting's list.
What did Ricky Ponting say?
Among the famous Fab Four, only Joe Root and Kane Williamson made the cut in the list for the fifty-year-old.
"Brian Lara was the most skilful batsman I played against and when I was captain, he gave me more sleepless nights than anybody. Sachin was technically as good as anyone I’ve seen, along with Rahul Dravid; I’d put Joe in there now as well, and Kane Williamson," Ponting said.
Backing Ponting’s statement, former West Indies captain Lara has scored 4,668 international runs against Australia in 78 matches at an average of 47.63, surpassing the great Viv Richards’ tally against the Aussies.
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Lara also has 12 centuries and 26 fifties against the Aussies, with a best score of 277 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1993.
In their playing time, Lara, Sachin and Ponting were regarded as the finest of their generation and their records speak for themselves.