Since its inception IPL has been accused of triggering off crazy race for money among the star cricketers and shunning the nation for personal bank balance. But at last the international cricket has come to find a cricketer for whom his country comes as the first priority, while Indian Premier League waits for another season. The Aussie skipper has just announced his decision to give the IPL’s second edition a miss.

Australia is currently coping with the dearth of capable players and badly need its leader to lead from the front and Ponting as a responsible captain could not turn a deaf ear to the needs of his team. Despite lifting the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, Australia’s performance in recently concluded series against NZ was far from impressive. Now the team is touring South Africa and much depends on their performance in this upcoming cricket series against Graeme Smith’s Team. The need of being in best physical and mental shape necessitated the Aussie skipper to opt out for the two weeks involvement with Indian Premier League.

One’s loss is another one’s gain and in this case Kolkata Knight Riders is the looser while Ponting’s decision leaves the CA all smiling. “I have made the decision I will not play in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition this year. My country comes first and there was no way I could give my all for Australia if I used the only two-week break we have to go and play in India,” Ponting revealed in his column in The Australian.

As it emerged, the Aussie skipper has been discussing the matter with KKR for more than one month. Given the circumstances, Ponting had no other choices than pulling back from this year’s Indian Premier League. But he will be back next year; he assures his fans back India. Ponting however thanked the Kolkata Franchise for their understanding and cooperation and expresses his intension for lifting the trophy for his club some time in the coming years. But right now it is the vacant trophy cabinet in CA’s head office that keeps on haunting the Australian captain and right now all he wants is to repossessing of the golden and silver mace for his country.

On the home front, the Knight Riders have already started planning for the replacement, Joy Bhattacharya, the KKR CEO told the media.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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