Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting recently conducted a Q&A session on micro-blogging site Twitter where he answered queries from his fans all around the world. One of the most successful captains of all-time, Ponting is fondly called ‘Punter’ by his former teammates and fans. Ponting recently revealed who gave him the nickname Punter and what was the reason behind it after a fan asked him about it on Twitter.
Ponting said it was his former teammate and legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne who coined the term Punter for him. Ponting had first met Warne during his academy days in Melbourne. While Warner was already a Test cricketer, the duo became good friends during Ponting’s academy days and that’s when the spinner nicknamed him Punter as the former Australian captain used to bet on dogs in racing.
“We were getting paid $40 a month when we were living at the cricket academy in 1990. I used to go to the TAB to have a bet on the dogs and Shane Warne gave me the nickname,” Ponting replied to the fan on Twitter. The nickname Punter stuck with Ponting and all his teammates soon started calling him the same.
