Former Australian Captain Ricky Ponting suffered a health scare while doing commentary during the 1st Australia vs West Indies Test match and was rushed to a local hospital in Perth, according to reports in Australian media. Ponting, who is part of the Channel 7 experts panel and also has a gig at SKY, apparently felt uneasy on live TV before he went off commentary and did not return.
No confirmed details have emerged or been made public about the condition of Ponting’s health. Ponting, 47, had commentated for almost 40 minutes before the incident occurred right at the stroke of lunch on Day 3. He was taken to the hospital in a car accompanied by his former Australia teammate and coach Justin Langer.
“Ricky Ponting is unwell and will not be providing commentary for the remainder of today’s coverage,” a spokesperson for broadcaster Channel 7 said in a statement to Australian media. Later, as per a report in The Telegraph, Ponting’s colleagues reported that he is ‘doing ok’.
Ricky Ponting is the most successful captain in ODIs
Ponting is considered one of the greatest captains of all time having led Australia during the golden era of dominance. Under his leadership, Australia won back-to-back World Cups in 2003 and 2007 and the Champions Trophy in 2006 and 2009. Ponting is also the second-most successful Test captain of all time, leading the team to 48 wins. Under his reign Australia registered 16 consecutive Test wins, matching his predecessor Steve Waugh’s world record.
Ponting, a veteran of 168 Tests and 375 ODIs for Australia is the country’s leading run-scorer in Tests tallying 13,378 runs at an average of 51.85 including 41 centuries. He leads the charts in ODIs as well with 13,589 runs including 29 hundreds and 82 half-centuries. He was also part of Australia’s World Cup-winning campaign in 1999. Ponting also scored an unbeaten 96 in the first-ever T20 international between Australia and New Zealand in 2005.
Ponting announced his retirement in 2012 and is currently involved in the coaching set-up for the Delhi franchise in the Indian T20 League.
