5 centuries that were overshadowed

#2 Ricky Ponting: 104 vs India at Ahmedabad, March 2011

Ricky Ponting conquered spin to score one of his finest ODI hundreds in 2011 World Cup

Arguably ODI cricket’s greatest captain ever, Ricky Ponting arrived in India in 2011 to defend the World Cup which was in Australia’s trophy cabinet since 1999 with all odds stacked against him. As a batsman, he had lost his touch, his famed team was no more invincible and criticism over his captaincy was increasing.

With a mix of brilliant and scratchy cricket, the defending champions reached the quarter-finals to meet India, the favourites for the tournament. With India having plenty of quality spinners and the pitch benefiting the hosts, Australia had a daunting task in their hands.

And their skipper led from the front. From the word go, India attacked the Aussie batsmen with spin and kept the noose tight. Watson departed cheaply while Haddin scored a 50 but was unable to break the shackles. The middle-order too limped but the Aussie captain batted determinedly and neutralised India’s spin threat.

Ponting scored 33 runs off 33 balls against Yuvraj, 22 runs off 27 balls against Harbhajan and eight runs from nine balls off Ashwin. His strike rate against the spinners was 90.78 in the innings where the spinners had an economy rate of 4.84 per over.

Punter scored a terrific hundred scoring 104 runs off 118 balls but with a little help from other batsmen, Australia managed 260 runs which India chased with ease in the 48^th over.

After Ponting’s 104 runs, the next highest score in the game was 57 from Yuvraj while Punter’s strike rate of 88.13 was the best for any batsmen in the match who faced more than 30 balls.

The Aussie captain lost the game and the trophy but left India with his reputation of being a resilient batsman intact.