Controversy and Ponting indeed are two sides of the same coin. His name generates so much animated passion in the sub-continent that any news which is associated with him comes packaged in all kind of innuendos. This time the rear guard action about Ponting seems to be undertaken by the management of Kolkata Knight Riders.

The IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders has vehemently refuted that Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has been put up on sale, setting the whispering campaign aside that Ponting was privately shopped around to other Indian Premier League franchises. Media however is agog with rumors and sinister whispers that Ponting was unwanted by Kolkata this year, and that it looked to trade him to a rival franchise last month.

Is it fallout of the statement of Ponting that he would like not to play this year for the Indian Premier League, and would instead like to spend some time with his family and prepare him for one of the busiest international schedule mapped out in Australia’s cricket history? The sources affirmed that attempts were made to trade him, but no team has shown an inclination to own him. If it is true, then indeed it is a sorry state of affairs for Ponting as time, at least for him in the sub continent has come to such a passé that nobody wants him. He has become a baggage it seems, and it all has happened within a time span of one year, which would in it be a singular incident without any precedence.
 
Sources from Kolkata Knight Riders however emphasized that question about trading Ponting never was in the horizon at all. Ponting has a three-year contract worth 400,000 dollars each season with Kolkata, while far less accomplished players attracted bids twice as much. The price at which he has been bought is a bargain, so the question of selling him does not arise at all.

As per the rules of the IPL tournament running for six weeks, each team has the option to trade talent and make up differences in price. Ponting’s manager, James Henderson, said his client’s unavailability was directly related to the hectic schedule of the Australian cricket team. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi also informed that he was unaware of Kolkata Knight Rider’s plans for selling Ponting.

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

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