Ricky Ponting ranks recent Tests as worst time of career

Hurt by the criticism over his leadership role in Nagpur, under-fire Australian captain Ricky Ponting has ranked the 'over-rate controversy' there as his toughest time in cricket along with last summer's Sydney fiasco.

Since the Nagpur Test against India, Ricky Ponting's captaincy has been under scanner for using part-time bowlers to peg back a slow over-rate at a crucial time when Australia needed to press for a win in last week's final Test to level the series.

He was accused of avoiding a personal one-Test suspension for slow over-rate ahead of pursuing victory against India and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

At the launch of his 'Captain's Diary 2208' in Sydney, Ricky Ponting compared the pressure on him in the aftermath of Nagpur loss to that after the controversy-packed Sydney Test against India in January which saw former greats and commentators calling for his head.

"(Sydney) was probably the most difficult time I've had to deal with as an Australian captain and an Australian player and I'm probably confronting the other one right at the moment," said Ponting.

However, Ponting got the backing of Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and his team-mates at this crisis hour.

"He (Ricky Ponting) is a player who has always put the team first and he has never measured success by personal statistics.

"Any suggestion that he put himself first ahead of the team last week in Nagpur is completely off beam and can only come from someone who does not know him or understand him," Sutherland said.