Whoever masters the mind-games will be the best: Ponting

Comparisons count for little and it all boils down to who "masters the mind games the best", which would eventually decide who is the best batsman in the world, said Ricky Ponting, when he was asked to pick the best batsman in world cricket currently. While Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steven Smith and Kane Williamson are among the most-discussed batsmen in recent years, Ponting sees them all in the same boat.

"To tell you the truth, I don't really care (who is the best batsmen at the moment). I just love to see all these guys playing. There are a number of current players who are probably on a similar career path," said Ponting.
As far as the number of hundreds are concerned, Kohli is well ahead of his contemporaries, having hit 37 internationals tons while Root, Smith and Williamson have scored 18, 20 and 21 centuries respectively.
While all four have played similar amount of Tests, Kohli's One Day International (ODI) numbers surpass the other three.

"Kohli probably has got age on his side. His ODI career till this stage has been incredible. We also know what he did in last year's IPL (973 runs at an average of 81.08 with four hundreds and seven fifties). He is an ultra-skilled and talented player. More importantly, he has got the attitude to want to be the best he can be and wants to lead his country in the best way possible, Ponting said. "Smith and Williamson are in the same boat. Whoever I guess masters the mind games the best will be the one who ends up with the best career record."

The two-time World Cup winning captain also felt that ODI cricket lacked context and mentioned that bilateral ODI series hardly mean anything to the teams. "Look, I am all for adding as much context to all formats of the game as possible. The Test championship and the two division competition have been talked about for a long time and here we are now, still have not been able to come up with the right program. I think the question is more important for ODI cricket than Tests. ODI cricket is the format which is lacking the most context at the moment.

"You have a one off series, like Sri Lanka played Australia recently. It doesn't mean anything. Both teams want to win the series but there is nothing else riding on it. It is a great challenge (to come up with the right program for all formats)," said the 41-year-old.

When asked if day-night Test cricket was the was forward for the five-day format, Ponting said: "We all know Test cricket has been on the wane in recent times. So you have to try something different. We have had (day-night Test) once in Adelaide last year. Once again I am all for what fans and administrators think is right for the game. If the fans want day night Test cricket, then the players and administrators have to do all to deliver it to them.

"Having said that, some players have been a little negative about day-night cricket, as it is not traditional way the game is played. But if fans are telling us that they want something different, then it needs to taken seriously. I feel more interaction is needed with general public and administrators of the game. To me that question (what they want to see) has not yet been answered by the public," he said.

Ponting also felt that Twenty20 has had an adverse impact as far as the technique of the current batsmen is concerned, especially in Test cricket. "The Test match techniques of our young players are probably not where it used to be," he pointed out. "When I played the game, I learnt first how not to get out and then accumulate runs. These days the guys are not worried about getting out. That is why you see some of them struggling in foreign conditions.'