It took Ricky Ponting just seven words to shut down former England batsman Kevin Pietersen after the latter heaped praise on his ex-teammate Joe Root. The hilarious incident took place on the fourth day of the ongoing first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Ricky Ponting and Pietersen were speaking on Sky Sports during the lunch break after England made a swift start to the proceedings with the bat. It did not take Pietersen long to single out Root for some special praise. The praise came even though Root was already dismissed by Nathan Lyon after a shocking swipe across the line.
“Joe Root just owned the game. He ran the game, he was pure quality and he just owned that space,” said Pietersen.
“All of this lot (Australian players) were just scratching their heads going ‘what do we do?’,” he added.
Ricky Ponting, however, was having none of it. The legendary cricketer did not have to explain a lot to Pietersen to shut him down as he quickly reminded the former England batsman: “Well he’s out now, he got 40.”
Root started the day in an unexpected manner when he tried a reverse scoop against Pat Cummins on the very first ball of the day. In the second over of the day, he played that shot again and hit Scott Boland for a six. He raced away to 46 in no time before Lyon dismissed him. Root was stumped for the first time in his 130-Test career.
Fans praise Ricky Ponting and criticise Kevin Pietersen:
The exchange between Ricky Ponting and Pietersen became viral in no time as fans praised the former for his subtle reply. Former Australia player Bryce McGain applauded Ponting’s ‘alpha move’ of shutting down Pietersen’s ‘waffle in one sentence’.
“Ricky Ponting, stone cold killer. The way KP was talking you’d think Root got 200+,” wrote one fan while another wrote: “KP was happy to score forty in an innings, hence the excitement. Punter never happy with anything under a ton.”
“Grumpy Punter having absolutely zero time for KP’s bulls**t is great content,” said pundit Dave Tickner.
“I mean KP could play, but he was never the sharpest tool in the shed was he? Punter on the other hand, sharpest cricket brain of his generation. Unfair mismatch to be fair,” wrote another fan.
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