Thaindian News

Melbourne, June 17 (IANS) Former Australian spin legend Shane Warne Friday said that Simon Katich was an “easy guy” to drop for the selectors and senior pro Ricky Ponting could follow him shortly if he does not perform consistently in the future matches.

Opening batsman Katich was dropped from the list of 25 contracted players despite averaging 45 from his last 14 innings. The other 35-plus cricketers, including Ponting and Michael Hussey, however, made the cut.

Warne reckoned that Katich was a lot harder to drop than the former Australian captain on the basis of performance.

“Simon Katich is an easy guy to drop, if that makes sense, I don’t think anyone is easy but Simon Katich is a lot harder than Ricky Ponting who averages 25 at the moment,” Warne was quoted as saying by The Australian.

Warne said the move to exclude will put Ponting under pressure.

“I think what they are trying to do with Ricky at the moment is say ‘well let’s take the captaincy off him and see how it goes’.”

“I think they will give him a bit of a trial but hopefully if he is not performing, he will put his hand up and say ‘I will retire’.”

“It’s one of those tough situations where if he’s not performing it’s pretty hard for a selector to come up and say ‘Ricky, don’t you think it’s time to retire, we are going to drop you’,” he said.

Ponting himself had expressed shock over Katich’s omission from the list.