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Punter proud of ton

Ponting hails Adelaide knock

01/24/2012 07:18:13 PM

Ricky Ponting declared his majestic opening day century in the fourth Test against India at Adelaide Oval as superior to his drought-breaking ton in Sydney three weeks ago.

The former Australian skipper was unbeaten on 137 at stumps after coming to the crease at 31-2 after 10 overs.

He will resume on Wednesday with Michael Clarke (140 not out) and hope to build on their huge fourth-wicket union which currently stands at 252.

"I felt I played better today than I played in Sydney," said Ponting of his 41st Test hundred.

"It was probably a better wicket to bat on than the Sydney wicket."

"There's no doubt that Michael and I were pretty disciplined the way we played throughout today."

"We didn't play too many rash shots, we didn't play and miss too many and there weren't too many edges."

"But at the same time we had great intent throughout innings as well. The scoring rate was always pretty good through our partnership."

"There wasn't much in it for the Indian bowlers, as we saw."

"There was no sideways movement for the quickies, there was not a lot spin, and there was a little bit of reverse swing during the middle of the day."

Ponting, who unequivocally confirmed he will not be retiring at the end of this match, predicts life will remain hard for bowlers at least for the next couple of days on the flat, batsman-friendly deck and keeping an eye on the clock will be pivotal in a rubber likely to go the full five-day journey.

"You have to be careful you don't bat too long," he said.

"By the look of the wicket it's going to be a tough wicket to take 20 wickets on if you want to win this game."

"That's certainly our intention, to make sure we're either bowled out or declare without killing too much time in the game."

"We'll be nice and positive tomorrow and hopefully score our runs at a reasonable clip."

Ponting, who upon reaching 81, became the third player in history to score 13,000 Test runs - after legendary Indian pair Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid - has chased enough leather from the bats of his long-time contemporaries to know what they can potentially do on a pitch like this.

"We know what they're (India) capable of as a group of players," said the rejuvenated 162-Test veteran, who is averaging in triple figures for the series after appearing to be a spent force earlier in the summer.

"Their batting line-up is exceptional ... at some stage you'd expect that it's going to fire."

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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