You are terribly wrong about mankading and moral policing, Ricky Thomas Ponting

It is no WWE, which is all real and bloody until you find out that it is scripted, which leaves you disappointed. This is cricket, everyone plays to win and who better to understand that point than Australia’s Ricky Ponting. Ponting, arguably one of the best skippers around the world across the generations, always played to win. It didn’t matter if it was fair, unfair, verbal or non-verbal, he and his team would always just aim to win. 

Post that, the Australian skipper was carrying and using a bat that was graphite-reinforced, that contravened one of MCC’s law, which deemed it illegal. Where was Ponting that time and his comments? In 2006, there was Ponting’s sense of pride that took over his moral self, when he shoved aside BCCI’s chief Sharad Powar, only to later apologise that it was in the heat of the moment. In the 2003 World Cup semi-final, Australia’s then vice-captain Adam Gilchrist walked the talk after edging a delivery. Instantly, the Australian captain had admitted to the media that he wouldn’t walk, even after knowing he had edged. Talk about moral policing, why couldn’t he then get on board with Gilchrist and say that this Australian team will set a good example to the future generations when he was still the most powerful member of that team’s setup! 

In 2010, the Australian batsman ensured that he did not stop his long-list of controversies behind when he stepped on the pitch against England. Once again, he was there giving orders to the umpire, stepping the line excessively, making it to the front pages of many newspapers around the world for the wrong reasons. He was fined 40 per cent of his match fee for a Level One charge of dissent after remonstrating with Dar after Kevin Pietersen’s decision. Do you think he was done? He continued on, chirping in Tony Hill’s ears to say that the umpiring team was terribly wrong with the choicest of words. 

The guy who talks and epitomes the so-called ‘spirit’ of the game went missing on that day. It wasn’t just morally wrong but also legally, a player-turning-umpire was something that was unheard in the game but that day, he was everything, from captain to umpire. In 2020, he stepped up a notch and become a judge, a morally right one, or at least self-proclaimed. Ponting might have been the epitome of competitive spirited nature but he can’t claim to be a true lover of the spirit of the game. In this case, let’s assume that he is indeed the one that he is acting to be, in that case, wouldn’t the batsmen gain an undue advantage over the fielding team? 

There are no two ways about it, cricket and batsmen should start accepting this mode of dismissal just like they do to bowled, LBW or caught behind. Ponting too should understand that these words coming from his mouth does not do any poetic justice, it is rather like a vow that politicians around the world find it hard to keep.