Ricky Ponting feels coaching is the best way to give back something to the game

Ricky Ponting feels coaching is the best way to give back something to the game

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Ahead of his coaching stint with Delhi Daredevils in the upcoming IPL season, an excited Ricking Ponting claimed that coaching is the best way he can give something back to the game. Praising the Indian Premier League, Ponting also stated it has been a big platform for all world class players.

Rahul Dravid chose to coach India A and India Under-19 and decided to step down as Delhi Daredevils coach due to BCCI’s conflict of interest rule. During the 2018 IPL player retention event, DD management announced that they had acquired the services of former Australian skipper Ponting for the position of team coach for the upcoming season of the cash-rich league. 

It is not the first time when the 42-year-old took coaching duties after working for Mumbai Indians for two years, and guiding the team to the title in 2015. Ponting stated that the job gives him the opportunity to work for the game that he is passionate about.

“At the end of the day, that’s what coaching is for me, having the feeling that you’ve actually improved someone and had an impact on the way they go about their cricket. And you’ve made them better as a cricketer and a person. I think that should be the motivating factor for all coaches anyway. It’s no different for me,” Ponting told the Cricket Australia website.

From the introduction of the IPL, it has become the most engaging, entertaining and powerful tournament on the cricket circuit. The league offers a strong platform for the best international players - a fact not lost on Ponting. 

“It’s a huge tournament, you’re working with the best players in the world and you’re unearthing and seeing some incredible Indian talent. I think the best way to describe the IPL to people who haven’t been there or seen it is you talk to the young Aussie guys who go and play and they say every game is like an AFL Grand Final. the atmosphere that’s created around a lot of these venues is unbelievable,” he said.

The T20 league of India got its place in the new FTP as a global event and during the time of the league, all international cricket will take a break. The former Aussie batsman also said the timing of the two-month long tournament fits perfectly with his personal commitments. 

“For all those reasons it’s great to be part of, and the other thing is that it’s eight or nine weeks. It’s not a huge time commitment so it fits in really well with where my life’s at,” Ponting said.

In the ICC T20 rankings, Australia spotted on the seventh position with 111 points. Ponting pointed out Australia's failure to make an impact in the T20 format was due to the constant changing of the team and the lack of a sufficient number of T20 games are the reasons.

“Until we start paying more attention to the T20 game…I don’t think we’ll ever improve. Yes, we have the Big Bash but we don’t play much other T20 cricket in Australia so – unless you’re playing in the IPL – our players aren’t playing a lot, and they’re not playing a lot together,” he said.

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