For a man who has won more test matches than any one; Ponting is quite grumpy. Imagine if he were Indian.
Sometimes I think Ponting was engineered in some Australian lab in response to such talents like Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam-Ul-Haq. However Wikipedia says he was conceived by regular human beings. So it must be true.
That however, fails to entirely convince me.
He is not so much programmed to win as he wants to win. Each win seems to make him thirsty for the next one. Its funny how I make it sound like a negative. But he is the kind of guy that makes me like him less for wanting to win.
Its not like I will like him more if he begins to lose.
I don't seem to mind Sachin Tendulkar wanting to score more centuries. Or Roger Federrer wanting to win more Grand Slams. But I count the same desire in Ponting as a negative.
Perhaps I believe that Australia have used up their quota of wins and now they should stop wanting to win. Actually stop winning all together.
I am actually not sure what Ponting needs to do to be liked by me. By anyone I think.
There is however one thing he likes more than winning. That is playing. Being in the XI. For that, he will willingly not want to win a game.
Today I learnt that Douglas Jardine and Ricky Ponting are the 2 captains with the best win-loss ratio of all time. That explains to some extent why I feel what I feel about Ponting.
