#LegendsOfCricket: Happy Birthday Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting, Australia's greatest ever captain and one of the best batsmen in the world, turns 43 today. Ponting, who captained his nation from 2004 till 2011 in Tests and 2002 till 2011 in ODI cricket, won two World Cups for Australia in 2003 and 2007. Ponting retired from cricket in December 2012. Let us know more about the legend!
One of the greats of all time
Regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Ponting is one of the 4 players along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis, with 13,000 test runs to his name. Ponting is only second to Sachin in the leading run scorers in tests with 13,378 runs and third in the ODI charts with 13,704 runs behind Sangakkara and Tendulkar.
Most successful captain of all time
Ponting is one of the most successful captains in cricket boasting a stunning win percentage of 62.3% out of 77 tests. He is also, undoubtedly the most successful ODI captain ever, with two World Cups and the most number of wins as a captain. Ponting's win percentage in ODI cricket stands at 76.14 % out of 230 matches he captained.
Records held by Ponting
Ponting holds the world record for being a part of the team with most ODI wins- he finished on the winning side in 262 ODIs. He is the most capped ODI captain in history (230 matches). He holds the record for the most world cup matches played (46). Further, he played the most number of matches as captain in ICC Cricket World Cup (29).
Lesser know facts about Ponting
Ponting was the first batsman to score centuries in ODI cricket against all test playing nations. He holds the record for scoring the most runs in ODI history as captain (8497). He holds the record for the highest T20I score on T20I debut (98). Finally, he has most career runs in ODI history when batting at number 3 position. (12,662)
