Ponting deserves better
Ricky Ponting entered to jeers and departed to cheers on the first day of the Bangalore Test
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Ricky Ponting entered to jeers and departed to cheers on the first day of the Bangalore Test. Between times he played exactly the composed and business-like innings his team needed, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
All things considered, Ponting deserved better than the hostile reception received on his way to the middle. Between Tests TV channels pounced upon his refusal to promise VVS Laxman a runner in this match. Not that Laxman had asked. Every cricketer knows his opinion was correct. Several respected Indian past players said so. And still the TV channels fed the frenzy. Previously the same channels had berated Ponting for his part in the brief spat with Zaheer Khan in Mohali. That was a mischievous rewriting of events. Every nation has its stirrers. The problem starts when they set the agenda.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo