When Ricky Ponting was picked up relatively cheap at the IPL auction, he complained about being undersold. A lack of respect. Four games into the debut tournament and with Ponting on his way back home for national duty, he’ll just be thankful he doesn’t have to give any of that money back.
Ponting’s torrid IPL came an end with a painstaking 19 off 31 balls during Kolkata Knight Riders’ seven wicket loss to Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens. The Australian skipper, often viewed as the best batsman in the world, could barely hit a ball off the square. South Africa’s Shaun Pollock, Sri Lankan Dilhara Fernando and even unknown Dhaval Kulkarni reduced Ponting to a withering mess, as he scratched his way past 0 for the first time in three innings. His innings ended via a dreadful mix-up with Mohammed Hafeez.
In his four IPL appearances, Ponting made just 39 runs. The Australian skipper will lead his country in a test series in the West Indies next month.
Kolkata never recovered from losing Brendan McCallum and Saurav Ganguly in the first over. Their total of 137 was cleaned up by Mumbai in the 19th over with seven wickets to spare. West Indian Dwayne Bravo was the catalyst, scoring an unbeaten 64, as Mumbai scored its first win of the event.
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