Former Australian batting great & captain Ricky Ponting has been rushed to the hospital due to a health scare. Check out what happened to him.
Ricky Ponting : What happened to | Heart attack
Ricky Thomas Ponting is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name |
Ricky Thomas Ponting
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| Born | 19 December 1974 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia |
| Nickname | Punter |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Bowling | Right-arm medium |
| Role | Batsman |
He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the modern era and in December 2006 reached the highest rating achieved by a Test batsman for 50 years, although this was surpassed by Steve Smith in December 2017.
He stands third in the list of cricketers by number of international centuries scored, behind Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
What happened to Ricky Ponting
Former Australian batting great and captain Ricky Ponting has been rushed to the hospital due to a health scare, according to reports in several Australian media outlets.
Ponting was commentating for Channel 7 during day 3 of the 1st Test between Australia and West Indies at Perth.
A report in Sydney Morning Herald stated that Ponting reported feeling unwell during day three of the Test match and went to the hospital to seek precautionary checks on his heart.
“Ricky Ponting is unwell and will not be providing commentary for the remainder of today’s coverage,” a Seven spokesperson said, according to the SMH report.
It has been a difficult couple of years for Australian cricket as far as heart health is concerned. This year, the game lost two of the biggest legends to wear Australian colours, Rod Marsh and Shane Warne in March.
Dean Jones, another Australian batter also suddenly passed away due to a heart attack in September 2020. Also, former Western Australia wicketkeeper and more recently Netherlands coach, Ryan Campbell also experienced a cardiac episode in April this year, due to which he almost died.
Ponting has represented Aussies in 168 Tests, having scored 13.378 runs at an average of 51.85, with 41 tons and 62 fifties.
In 375 ODIs, he scored 13,704 runs at an average of 42.03, with 30 centuries and 82 fifties.
In 17 T20Is, he made 401 runs at an average of 28.64 and scored two fifties.
Heart attack
Ponting complained of chest pain during the Lunch session of Day 3 in the Australia vs West Indies 1st Test in Perth and was immediately taken to the hospital.
The legendary batter was treated and cleared of any serious concerns. “I probably scared a lot of people yesterday and had a scary moment for myself,” Ponting said on Saturday after returning to the ground.
The former Australia No.3 is currently part of the Seven Cricket broadcasting team for the West Indies tour of Australia.
Narrating his health situation that led to sending shockwaves around the cricket world, Ponting said he got ‘a couple of really short and sharp pains’ in his chest when he was on air but ‘didn’t want to give too much away’.
“I was sitting in the comms box halfway through the stint and got a couple of really short and sharp pains to my chest and i tried to stretch it out and get rid of it, and probably didn’t want to give too much away when I was on air. I had a couple of those incidents, got through the stint and went to walk to the back of the commentary box and got lightheaded and dizzy and grabbed the bench,” he said.
It was his former teammate and friend Justin Langer and a Seven Cricket producer who acted quickly after Ponting narrated his condition.
“I mentioned to JL (Justin Langer) on the way out, who was commentating with me, that I had had these pains in my chest and Chris Jones (Seven’s executive producer) heard me and just reacted straight away and got me out of there. Ten or 15 minutes later, I was in the hospital getting the best treatment that I possibly could.”