5 legends who prolonged their careers unnecessarily

2. Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting achieved almost everything that a cricketer can do on a cricket field. The former Australian captain was the bedrock of his batting unit for a decade and a half where he scored runs across all attacks in every condition possible.

The stylish Tasmanian batsman led Australia to two back-to-back World Cup victories and was a part of several Ashes-winning campaigns throughout his career. But unlike most Aussies, who retired at their peak, the past two and a half years of Punter’s career looked like a dragon.

From December 2010 till the end of his career two years later against South Africa, Ponting could manage just 1058 runs in 18 Tests at an average of 34.12- a far cry from his career of 54.27 in 150 Tests prior to that.

Ironically, the hook shot, which has been USP throughout his career, had become his weaker suit and Michael Clarke later revealed that had Ponting not called time on his career in 2012, he would have been dropped.