Ricky Ponting takes brutal dig at former England star with 'never played in winning Ashes team' statement

Ricky Ponting, a former Australian captain, has been playing in a separate time zone for the last few weeks of the ongoing Ashes 2023 match between England and Australia. He has made off-field comments before, whether they were about current cricketers or legendary cricketers from the past. Throughout the Ashes 2023, Ponting frequently outwitted opponents with his sharp sense of humour.

Recently, he did a similar sort of thing while revealing about off-field banter in the commentators’ WhatsApp group. He shared it in an interaction with the host of cricket’s governing body, Sanjana Ganesan. He spoke about the former England skipper Naseer Hussain and took a brutal dig at him.

"Nasser (Hussain) has never won and never played in a winning Ashes team, Ashes series team. Mike Atherton might have even been the same, I'm not sure about that. I've got plenty of ammunition to throw back, it's just that I'm outnumbered all the time and I've got to make sure I've got plenty of good stuff,” said Ponting to Sanjana Ganesan during the show of cricket’s governing body.

I'm a man of few words until I get pricked and poked - Ricky Ponting

“I'm a man of few words until I get pricked and poked enough and then I have to come out and defend myself or defend my country. There's only been Mark Taylor and I as the only Aussies that have been in the commentary box, although Mel Jones was there for the first couple of games. So, we've been heavily outnumbered, there's no doubt about that,” he added later.

Later, the two-time World Champion Aussie skipper also said that English players were not happy about a couple of things in and outside the commentary box.

"You reckon the English players were not happy that they couldn't get back out (onto the field)? Well, the same feeling was bouncing around the commentary box and all sorts of accusations made at me for doing rain dances and everything,” said Ponting.