RICKY Ponting’s coaching career has begun with the same international success that embodied his illustrious playing days.
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The latest chapter in a cricketing life which began at Mowbray’s Invermay Park took place at Kolkata’s packed Eden Gardens where Ponting’s Mumbai Indians completed a fairytale victory in the Indian Premier League.
Despite losing their opening four matches of the campaign, the Indians won their next five to ensure Australia’s all-time leading run-scorer claimed a trophy in his first coaching assignment.
Mumbai posted a huge 5-202 which Chennai Super Kings never looked like chasing down following the early dismissal of Ponting’s long-time national teammate Mike Hussey, as they lost by 41 runs on Sunday.
‘‘It has been a great turnaround but it has nothing to do with me; full credit to the players,’’ said the 40-year-old Tasmanian, whose Twenty20 triumph adds to the numerous Ashes and World Cup wins he savoured as a Test and one-day international player.
‘‘We have worked really hard – we worked hard before the first game as well, but things didn’t quite go to plan. We knew that if we can string a couple of wins together, we will be able to come back strong. Full credit to the players to show that kind of character when our backs were to the wall.
‘‘It’s been extremely satisfying. It’s been a great couple of months. The last half of the tournament has been terrific.
‘‘We probably played our best game of the tournament today.’’
In an ironic twist to Ponting’s eventful career, the Mumbai team included his former Test nemesis Harbhajan Singh who once sat opposite the former Aussie captain in a disciplinary hearing over the Monkeygate affair but was leading the tributes to his coach on Monday.
‘‘The way Ricky led Australia for so many years was very fascinating to see [and] he has brought that to Mumbai,’’ Harbhajan said.
Following the coaching success of his former international teammates Darren Lehmann (with Australia), Justin Langer (Western Australia) and Jason Gillespie (Yorkshire), and with the vacant England job expected to be filled on Tuesday, Ponting has already been talked about as a future international coach.
