Ricky Ponting Picks Top 5 Greatest Batters, Ignores Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma

Ricky Ponting Picks Top 5 Greatest Batters, Ignores Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma

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Last Updated: August 10, 2025, 08:33 IST

Ricky Ponting picks his top five greatest-ever batters. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith don't find a place.

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Rohit Sharma (left) and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket last month. (PTI Photo)

Two Indians made it to Ricky Ponting’s list of the top five greatest-ever batters: Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Ponting said that Brian Lara was the ‘most skilful’ one he ever played against, and followed it up by picking two modern, Fab Four choices: Joe Root and Kane Williamson.

While Indian fans could be upset about not seeing Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma included, interestingly, no Australians (for example, Steve Smith) got into the former captain-turned-pundit’s exclusive group either. While Tendulkar (34357) and Dravid (24208) retired as India’s highest run-scorers, Lara is the greatest ever to come out of the West Indies, and Root and Williamson have been leading their teams’ torches for years.

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“Brian Lara was the most skilful batsman I played against and when I was captain, he gave me more sleepless nights than anybody," Ponting was quoted as saying by The Times. “Sachin was technically as good as anyone I’ve seen, along with Rahul Dravid; I’d put Joe in there now as well, and Kane Williamson," he added.

While Root’s stats are obvious as the second-highest run-scorer in Tests, Ponting said someone like Ben Stokes is gauged more with big-game impact.

“Stokes is a hard one. Numbers don’t define him. It’s been about moments with him, he’s a situation player. When things get toughest he’s been at his best. When you’re talking about the greats, you’ve got to talk about impact on games," he added.

Ponting, separately, also picked Jaques Kallis as the greatest cricketer he had seen.

‘Joe wasn’t a great player for his first 11 games’

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Ponting also hailed Root’s transformation from an inconsistent skillful player who couldn’t convert most of his 50s to now a world-beater.

“What he’s done the past five years is extraordinary. Look at the numbers: he’s got 13,500 runs. I rank players on how long they can stay at the top of their powers. You can be a great player for 30 to 40 games but can you do it for 150 games? Joe probably wasn’t a great player for his first 100 games — he had 17 hundreds in 97 Tests — but he’s turned into a great player. He has got 21 hundreds in his past 60 games (before the Oval Test)," Ponting said.

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First Published: August 10, 2025, 08:33 IST

News cricket Ricky Ponting Picks Top 5 Greatest Batters, Ignores Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma

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