How good is Ricky Ponting as a leader

Ricky Ponting and Leadership
· To envision a goal and to inspire and motivate the group towards achieving it
· Aggressiveness and dynamism.
o Apart from being unorthodox, he does not hesitate to go into the uncharted territory that was aptly demonstrated by his unorthodox fielding positions and bowling changes, just to try to unsettle the rthym of the batsmen. His pre and post match media briefings specifically aimed at the opponents to have a mental edge over them demonstrate his astute and aggressive mind at work.
o Nicknamed “Punter” for his love for gambling in races, he has a inherent risk taking ability.
· It also includes taking the lead and setting precedents
o He has the ability to lead from the front with his consistent performances. Disregarding some occasional failures, he has been amongst the top batsmen for the last three to four years and has set numerous examples for his team
· Sharing knowledge with the group
o Another aspect that I admire about Ricky is his meticulous planning before getting set to work. He along with his team always plans a strategy for outsmarting the opponents before taking on to the field and keeps a plan B ready in case a plan A fails.
· Backing the team members and taking blame on behalf of the group in case of a fiasco.
o Most distinctive feature about Ricky is his support to his team members, in times of distress. Be it Shane Warne for the drug abuse case or Mathew Hayden for his poor form in Ashes series, Ricky has never buckled up under pressure and extended his full support to his team members. This, I believe, makes him a natural leader

· Learns from his failures

o Ponting had off-field problems tormented his cricket during the early parts of his career. Ponting was known to get into fights at clubs and had to publicly admit it once. Though dumped from the test side for this in 1997, he fought back his alcohol problem and was back in the test side in 1999 when Ian Healy retired.
Undoubtedly he is one of the best leaders alive in the cricketing arena.