During a recent interview, Ricky Ponting, the legendary Australian cricketer, shared his thoughts on the popular rivalry between him and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Both of them currently serve in Delhi Capitals as head coach and Team Director.
More intense rivalry with Waugh
In the interview, Ponting was asked about their relationship, and he acknowledged that Steve Waugh, another former Australian captain, and Ganguly possibly had a more intense rivalry with a bit more of an edge compared to their on-field face-offs.
“When you talk about rivalry, he was a bigger rival to Steve Waugh when he was the captain. They had a bit more edge than Sourav and I. We did play a lot against each other, we captained in the World Cup final against each other. But he was involved with DC back in 2019 when things really started to change. He went to the biggest seat in the last couple of years, and now he's back with us,” Ponting told Delhi Capitals.
“We get on really well because we can see the bigger picture for this franchise, and what we have to do together to guarantee success for DC. Regardless of if we're not good mates, when you're working in a team, you got to come together and focus on one direction. Leave the past behind, whatever's happened has happened,” he added.
During a discussion on the influence of the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the years, the ex-Australian skipper highlighted that the traditional rivalries between nations have diminished as players now share the same dressing room. To emphasize his point, he recounted his experience of captaining the Mumbai Indians, with Harbhajan Singh also being a part of the team.
“One of the best examples was when I went to Mumbai... one of my biggest on-field rivals was Harbhajan. Next minute, I'm walking in MI and captaining him! I'm catching off his bowling and hugging him! That's the really good thing about the IPL. The international rivalries are probably not as strong now because you're working with those guys,” the former Australia skipper said.
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