The ball-tampering scandal which has hit the Australian cricket teams' sentiments has been blown out of proportion as per former skipper Ricky Ponting. 

The former Australia skipper defended the hyped Australian culture of playing ‘fair and hard’ as he felt it was blown out of proportion in this particular case.

“At the end of the day, as a past player and past captain, I must be honest I was quite shocked to see what took place. The pleasing thing for me is that the issue is starting to come to an end,” said Ponting in his first comments on the issue at a media interaction here as Delhi Daredevils coach on Thursday."

“We heard this morning that David Warner had also accepted the sanctions Cricket Australia had put on him, so all three guys have accepted the sanctions. So, it seems like it’s starting to come to an end."

“When I was at home, it was astronomical how big an issue it was in Australia, and rightly so. We as Australians like to play the game hard and we like to play the game fair. Fans expect the team to play that way. And I think the reaction back in Australia was as big as it was because the Australian public felt they hadn’t played the game in a fair way."

“It’s starting to come to an end and that’s a good thing for the game’s sake and the players’ sake as well as they can try and get away from it. It’s also a good thing for cricket in Australia. Now that the series is over, the players have a few weeks to get away from it all and start rebuilding what has collapsed over the last couple of weeks.”

Stressing on the Australian cricket culture Ponting said " I think a lot of times these ‘cultural things’ can be blown out of proportion. The reality inside the dressing room is completely different from what is actually spoken about all the time. I honestly feel on this occasion the cultural stuff has been blown out of proportion.”

He concluded by  saying that the sanction summoned by Cricket Australia is way more than what ICC had prescribed.