‘I only looked at the bottom 5 per cent’ – Ricky Ponting on how he played pull shot to perfection

Ricky Ponting is easily among the most legendary batters of all time in world cricket. And the 27483 runs that he has scored across his international career are a testament to that. He is also famously remembered for the rumour of using a spring in his bat during his exceptional knock in the 2003 World Cup final. However, it was not the spring or his bat, but the observant eyes of the former batter that made him better.

During a recent conversation, the veteran batter has revealed that the Australian cricketers used to wear the glasses that could detect the slightest of the movement of their eyes at the time of facing a delivery. And the results displayed that Ponting always used to see only the bottom five per cent circumference of the leather ball.

“We had these glasses that picked up every slight movement of your eyes when you were watching the ball. The big thing that showed up with me was that I only looked at the bottom 5% of the ball. So when the ball was coming down the wicket, my focus point was on the bottom 5%, which was different from what everyone else did,” Ponting said on the Straight Talk podcast with Mark Bouris.

The Tasmania-born is till date known as one of the finest pullers of the cricket ball. it won’t be wrong in saying that his pull shot comes right out of the textbook, and is extremely pleasing on the eyes. Ponting has credited this ability to pull to watching the part of the ball that was hitting the wicket before it bounced off, and that is why he could pull the deliveries that were relatively fuller in length.

“I was able to play pull shots to balls that were fuller than the others. And when I thought about that, maybe it was because I was looking at the part of the ball that was actually hitting the wicket. If you are looking at the top of the ball, it’s going to be longer before you can pick up where the ball’s landing on the wicket,” he explained.