Ricky was a proper specimen of an Australian athlete - aggressive, in your face and someone with unyielding self-belief. He was born on December 19, 1974, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia and earned the reputation as a cricket prodigy in his childhood days. Ricky made his ODI debut in 1995, in New Zealand, against South Africa, and soon he made his test debut too, against Sri Lanka in Perth, in which he scored 96. He was part of the 1999 World Cup winning squad where he amassed 354 runs at an average of 39.33 and played crucial knocks in Australia's road to glory. In 2002, he was rewarded with the captaincy of ODI side and he would lead the team by example by delivering on crucial occasions. He led Australia to 2 World Cup championships and did so without any defeat. He scored 13,378 runs in test matches and 13,704 in ODIs with a healthy average of 51.85 and 42.03 respectively. Ponting captained Australia in 228 matches, winning 164 of them and losing only 50 of them, making him one of the best captain in the colour format.