Ricky Ponting picks his top 5 greatest cricketers of all-time

Former Australian captain and commentator Ricky Ponting has picked his all-time top five greatest cricketers. Interestingly, Ponting’s picks didn’t include Indian and Australian star talismanic batters Virat Kohli and Steve Smith.

Moving into the details of his picks, he started off with Brian Lara, who, according to him, was the most skillful batter he played against, as he gave him a lot of sleepless nights than any other batter while he was captaining the Australian team.

Moreover, he picked two former Indian batters in Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Also, he has selected the England talismanic batter Joe Root and former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson in his list. 

"Brian Lara was the most skillful batter 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," stated Ponting as quoted by The Times.

Furthermore, Ponting also heaped praise on the England captain and all-rounder, Ben Stokes, for giving his best when things get toughest. Though he doesn’t have flashy numbers to support his career, Ponting feels he has created a lot of impact wit his all-round skills.

"Stokes is a hard one. Numbers don’t define him. It’s been about moments with him, he’s a situation player. When things get toughest, he’s been at his best. When you’re talking about the greats, you’ve got to talk about impact on games," he added.

Additionally, Ponting also hailed England batter Joe Root for transforming himself into one of the great Test batters in recent times. Notably, Root is closing the gap with Sachin Tendulkar to emerge as the leading run-scorer in the longest format of the game.

“What he’s done the past five years is extraordinary. Look at the numbers: he’s got 13,500 runs. I rank players on how long they can stay at the top of their powers. You can be a great player for 30 to 40 games but can you do it for 150 games? Joe probably wasn’t a great player for his first 100 games — he had 17 hundreds in 97 Tests — but he’s turned into a great player. He has got 21 hundreds in his past 60 games (before the Oval Test)," Ponting observed.

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