Ricky Ponting: Amazing batsman and exemplary captain By Dilanka MANNAKKARA Ricky 'Punter' Ponting holds a wonderful World Cup record both as an amazing batsman and as a champion captain. One of the all time greats, Ponting has had the extremely rare distinction of being part of three World Cup winning teams and one runner-up team and has the opportunity of once again retaining the crown this time in the sub continent. He is still nursing an injury and the whole world will hope that this magnificent batsman would recover and delight his fans with the willow during the World Cup. He played all the shots with a full flourish of the bat - the cover drive and the pull are particulary productive methods - and knows only to attack. His breathtaking, dead-eye fielding is a force in the game by itself. Only Sachin Tendulkar has more centuries in Tests and ODIs than Ponting, who is a natural in the game a traditional forms, but resistant to the perks of Twenty20, which he retired from in 2009. It is ironic that Ponting isn't given the same recognition of Tendulkar although Pointing is more of a big match player. His swashbuckling 159 against India in the 2003 World Cup Final sealed the game for the Aussies and after he became the captain he has thrived in batting and had an excellent World Cup in 2007 as a batsman. Ricky Ponting, the most uncompromising player of his generation, grew into Australia's most successful run-maker and only sits below Don Bradman in the country's overall ratings. It takes an extremely critical eye to oiminish his run-scoring achievements, which seem to collect new records in every series. Like spotting a celebrity, it's necessary to look twice when analyzing Ponting, first as the archetypal modern batsman, then as the country's 42nd Test captain. There is no doubt about his greatness after taking guard, but his leadership has been under scrutiny for much of his reign since the humiliating Ashes defeat to England. Those results haven't stopped him from becoming the most successful captain in Test history after passing Steve Waugh's 41 wins in the 2009-10 Boxing Day Test. For the first three years of his reign he was in charge of a superstar unit and did not have to decide much tactically, but once that group headed for retirement he had to change from a manager to moulder. As a batsman, the only debate is where to rank him in the high reaches of the game's greatest run-makers. Acclaimed by Academy coach Rod Marsh as the best teenage batsman he had ever seen, Ponting began with Tasmania at 17 and Australia at 20, and was given out unluckily for 96 on his Test debut. There were some teething problems, including a public admission of an alcohol problem, but the longer he went, on, the more he matured, building up records and runs.