Time for Australian team to rebuild, says Ponting

New Delhi: Judging by the flurry of ball-tampering questions towards Ricky Ponting as soon as the floor was declared open for queries, it was difficult to believe the press conference was for the Delhi Daredevils.

But the curiosity to hear the former Australia skipper’s perspective on world cricket’s burning issue is understandable as he comes from the same “playing hard but playing fair” school of cricket as the shamed Aussie trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

“This is the first time I am answering any question about what happened in South Africa. As a past player and captain, I was actually quite shocked to see what happened on the field. If you think it was big news over here, you wouldn’t believe how astronomical it was in Australia, and rightly so,” the new Daredevils coach said.

“We Australians like to play the game hard and fair and fans expect them to play that way.

“But the reaction back in Australia was as big as it was since the public felt the players haven’t played in a fair way,” he added.

Whatever be the ugly episode’s short and long-term consequences, Ponting is keen for the furore to die down, enabling Australian cricket to start afresh. He denied their cricketing culture was to be blamed for the scandal. “The pleasing thing is that the whole issue is starting to come to an end. All three of the guys have accepted the sanctions put before them. It is good for the game’s sake, for the players’ sake, that they can get away from it now, as hard as it is going to be for them.”