Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting was one of the best captains Australia has ever had as the national team won two World Cups in 2003 and 2007. Michael Clarke who replaced Ponting as captain recently talked about the circumstances he had to face after Ponting stepped down.

The right-hand batsman who was famous for his pull-shot played 375 ODIs for Australia and scored 13704 runs at an average of 42.04. Whereas in the longest format, Ponting has 13378 runs in 168 matches with 41 hundred.

Clarke recently revealed that he had fought with the selectors to keep Ponting in the team even after stepping down as captain.

“When I took over the captaincy, that’s why I fought to keep Ricky. The selectors said, ‘Very rarely does a captain stand down and stay in the team, so if you don’t feel comfortable … it’s time for Ricky to go’,” Clarke told former NRL star Brett Finch on his Uncensored podcast.

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The former Aussie captain then talked about the team needed Ponting for his batting and with him in the team, it would be like having another coach.

“I said, ‘We need him. We need him for his batting, but he’ll be another coach for us’. So I fought hard to keep him, I wanted him there. I thought he played a big part in helping that younger generation get to the level we needed to,” the 40-year-old said.

“If he was batting at 80 percent, he was better than anybody else at No. 3 or No. 4. We think the grass is greener all the time. Very rarely it is,” he added.

Ponting played 16 Tests under Clarke between 2011 and late 2012 and scored 1,015 runs. His average was 37.59, which is comparatively less than his career average.

(With Hindustan Times inputs)