Pont to be noted

Ricky Ponting perhaps had a premonition that this was going to be his last match ever. That is why he tried almost every one of his gimmicks in the match.
Claiming a bump catch, arguing with the umpire, looking pissed of in general and batting beautifully.

While most will remember the match for crucial partnership between Yuvraj and Raina and the 18000th milestone in the so well canvassed career of Sachin Tendulkar, not many will remember it for the gritty knock  played by a man under pressure, not only from his own form(he hadn't scored an ODI hundred in close to a year), but also from critics and officials in his own country. Given that he had to deal with questions of captaincy and consistency and that he was facing a team considered hot favourites for the title, his knock of 104 is one of true courage.

He was always a big match player and he lived up to that. He began nervously, but he soon found grip and dispatched eight balls to the fence including one that took the aerial route. On a track that had assistance to spin(Tendulkar bowled a delivery which Shane Warne would have been proud of) and stopped occasionally, Pontings knock helped prop Australia to a respectable total. For a man always known to be aggressive, Ponting was never the one to try anything silly. His brand of attacking was to take the ball early, switch feet quickly, pull with great skill and negate the spinner by using quick footwork. Pity that his last World Cup knock probably, ended with a misdirected reverse sweep.

The man had his flaws. His aggression sometimes got better of his judgement. And his character was several times questionable. Yet, Ricky Ponting, the Batsman was a treat to watch. Prodigious skill and indeed a great cricketer.

His last World Cup match(mostly) was in many ways, an aggregate display of what was his career.