Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting

[King]

http://www.rediff.com/rss/redirect.php?url=http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/apr/14pont1.htm April 14, 2007 16:24 IST Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels the days of pint-sized batting maestros like Sachin Tendulkar, Brain Lara and himself are over as a new generation of hulks like Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Hayden redefine batting with their sheer power. "It is much more a power game than it ever used to be. Someone mentioned to me a little while ago he thought myself, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar are the last of a generation of outstanding small batsmen," Ponting was quoted as saying in The Courier Mail. "The next generation will be power batsmen. I really think that is the way the game is going. It will be the same with the bowlers. All the wickets around the world are pretty flat now and you need big, tall bowlers who are going to get extra bounce," he added. The Aussie skipper said the physical enormity of players like Hayden and Pietersen made them all the more intimidating for opposition. "When Matthew Hayden takes one or two steps down the wicket it makes a bowler feel as if he is standing on top of you. I know what it feels like when you have big tall bowlers bowling at you. Curtly Ambrose used to feel as if he was on top of you. "Pietersen is the same. You just have such a small margin for error with those guys because they are so strong," he explained. Ponting said the trend for bowlers was also similar with taller bowlers proving to be more dangerous and hard to deal with. "If you are short you are going to need to be exceptional. Brett Lee is because he can bowl at 160kmph," he said.

[King]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting He is blowing his own trumphet :hic: Adding his name along side Tendulakar and Lara as outstanding small batsmen. Ponting is full of himself.

[yoda]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting He is, but yes sounds strange coming from him. :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

[apocalypse]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting He is giving statements on daily basis Looks like someone is mixing something in his food :hic:

[Chandan]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting So Ponting thinks he is already as great as Lara or Sachin??

[King]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting I reckon he thinks he is way better than both.

[Zooter]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting You know, Ponting is not always wrong. He just has a knack for being boorish. He's right in what he says, ... it just shouldn't be said in a crass way. I wouldn't put him in the league of SRT and Lara (those two define their own league), but he's right: he has become A MAGNIFICIENT BATSMAN--THE Go-to-Guy in CURRENT cricket, ... and yes, ... the age of tiny master-class batsmen seems to be coming to a close. Well--maybe not completely, but the girth-thing is definately the "in-thing" now. He was spot on with regards to the Windies infrastructure btw. Seeing those pics with our Skip in front of a phucking ROCK was just ... ... .. ugh ... ... I'm pretty incensed.

[Holysmoke]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting Pontings ahead of Lara IMHO, its just that we all hate him coz he acts like a baashtud :mad:

[Zooter]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting

Pontings ahead of Lara IMHO' date=' its just that we all hate him coz he acts like a baashtud :mad:[/quote'] No way. Lara and SRT slowed down towards the tail end of their career--but if you look at their careers overall .. ... there's no comparison.

[The Outsider]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting He makes a good point here, though needlessly drafting himself with Tendulkar and Lara. But the basic point about power batsmen gaining more prominence has truth to it.

[Holysmoke]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting

Pontings ahead of Lara IMHO' date=' its just that we all hate him coz he acts like a baashtud :mad:[/quote'] No way. Lara and SRT slowed down towards the tail end of their career--but if you look at their careers overall .. ... there's no comparison.

I dont think so, as much as i hate him, i would rank him alongside SRT and Lara. His golden years have been as good as SRT's or Lara's.

[beetle]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting The only thing better and bigger than sachin and lara is his big mouth!

[Holysmoke]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting Bangladesh are in the super eights. :hic:

[Bumper]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting

I reckon he thinks he is way better than both.

And he is. And miles ahead of either of them. Lara & Tendu hardly stand up for their team, when they are most needed. Punter is the opposite. He never misses an opportunity to rescue his team. And in most cases, ends up playing the most influential innings of the game. Add his fitness, fielding and captaincy into the equation, he is miles ahead as a cricketer. By the time he finishes his career, he'll end up the best of his generation, in either forms of the game. We were all told by cricket pundits over the years, , that Lara & Tendu, are the two best in contemporary cricket & this belief is ingrained in us, which is the only reason, often, Punter & Dravid arent given their due recognition.

[Inside_edge]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting While little known guys win games for their country day in day out we keep pouring encomiums for a guy who has hardly done anything worthwhile for years. Ponting is obviously head and shoulder ahead of contemporaries and hence his words carry that much more weight.After all Jo jeeta wohi sikandar! Right on money abt power batters.

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting agree with bumper completely

[Zooter]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting Bumps, I agree with you that right now he is the match winner that the other two aren't. But my point is that you can't discount an entire decade of Sachin's himmat -- a time when ... according to Wasim Akram ... all Pak. had to plan for was 1 wicket ... the other 9 just tumble over after that without effort.

[Bumper]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting

Bumps, I agree with you that right now he is the match winner that the other two aren't. But my point is that you can't discount an entire decade of Sachin's himmat -- a time when ... according to Wasim Akram ... all Pak. had to plan for was 1 wicket ... the other 9 just tumble over after that without effort.

What is right now ? The past 6 years ? Remember in a marathon it doesnt matter how fast u start, its how strong u finish, that counts. At the end of their resp careers, the players will be judged by how they played the game, the odds they faced and what they achieved for their resp countries and not by their stats. And even if u go by stats, Punter will end up with way better stats than these two (perhaps SRT's ODI 100s record will not be broken). By all yardsticks (overall averages, centuries, away averages, match winning knocks etc), i expect Punter to emerge head & shoulders ahead of his peers in the years to come.

[Anakin]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting Just forgetting a very small fact that there are about 7/8 matchwinners plus 2 extra ones on his side :chin:

[Bumper]

Re: Hulks eclipsing small batsmen like Sachin and me: Ponting Talking about SRT, I already asked about this in another thread, for which i never got an answer. Show me one test knock from SRT, which was the single most influential knock of the game, which led us to a test victory and which came against BIG ODDs, against a non-minnow. Few examples for the kind of knock i am looking for: - Dravid's 241 earned us the first win Down Under in years. It came when we were facing a 500+ deficit and stuck at 85/4. A typical Indian response without Dravid would have gotten us 150 all out & an innings defeat. Dravid won us the test match (with Laxman's help). - Dravid's two 50s in the WI in the most difficult batting conditions which led us to our first ever test series win in WI - Dravid's 270 vs Pak in Pindi. After losing Sehwag to Akhtar's first delivery, in a series decider, with Akhtar breathing fire, leading us to a famous series win - Laxman's 281, needs no further explanation - Sunny's 102, GRV's 112 chasing 400+ to win in WI.