“I only looked at the bottom 5% of the ball” - Ricky Ponting opens up on how he played the pull shot to perfection

Commentators frequently remark that they are viewing the ball as huge as a football when a batter times every shot flawlessly. It is a metaphor for the batter's flawless reaction speed and razor-sharp focus. Hold that notion for a while and visualise this statement made by renowned Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting during the "Straight Talk" podcast featuring Mark Bouris. 

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"I only looked at the bottom 5% of the ball." Ponting was referring to a real cricket ball, which has a circumference of no more than nine inches. If the bowler were Shoaib Akhtar or Shaun Tait, flying in at 100 mph, the ball could easily pass even a skilled eye.

When approaching a delivery, Australian cricket players used to wear eyeglasses that could detect even the slightest movement of their eyes, the seasoned batter revealed. Additionally, the results demonstrated that Ponting could always only see the bottom five per cent of the leather ball's circumference.

“When you were watching the ball, we had these glasses that detected even the smallest movement of your eyes. The main issue I had was that I just looked at the bottom five percent of the ball. Ponting stated on the Straight Talk podcast with Mark Bouris, “I focused on the bottom 5% when the ball was coming down the wicket, which was different from what everyone else did.”

At the end of his remarkable career, which culminated in over 27,000 international runs, Ponting recalled a research conducted by Queensland University in Brisbane. Ponting claimed that he and a few other Australian celebrities underwent testing to determine "what made the exceptionally talented international players superior” to the others.

One of the greatest cricket ball pullers is still thought to be the Tasmanian. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that his pull shot looks like it belongs in a textbook. Ponting attributed his ability to draw deliveries that were relatively longer to his ability to see the part of the ball that struck the wicket before it rebounded off.

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