Don Bradman’s old Prediction On Ricky Ponting goes viral: A decades-old letter of Sir Don Bradman, the greatest batsman of world cricket, has gone viral in which he gave his opinion about the batsmen of world cricket and predicted that that player would go on to become a great player in world cricket. Now, after four decades, this letter of his has come to light which he wrote to his close friend Peter Brough during the 80s and 90s. In that letter, Bradman had predicted about Australian legends Steve Waugh, Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting and had written that all these players are going to become the greatest of all time in world cricket. The prediction made by Bradman has definitely proved true. Today in world cricket, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting are considered to be the best cricketers in the world.
Let us tell you that Bradman, known as the greatest batsman in the history of cricket, scored 6,994 Test runs with an average of 99.94. He scored 29 centuries and 13 half-centuries in his 52 Test matches. Bradman has written about Warne in that letter (Don Bradman’s old Prediction On Shane Warne) that “After the departure of Richie Benaud in 1964, leg spinners were not coming in world cricket but looking at Warne it seems that he has filled the gap.” In an old letter written by Bradman on March 15, 1993, it is written in praise of Warne that “Thankfully, at last we have A good leg spinner has been prepared in the form of Warne. He is only 23 years old and really spins the ball. I am impressed by their accuracy. Now in the Test being played against New Zealand, he is giving less than two runs per over, which is tremendous. He should do well in England.”
Bradman’s admiration for Warne grew, which was evident in a letter dated November 1994. “Shane Warne is bowling brilliantly and is causing all kinds of problems to the batsmen.”
Warne fulfilled Bradman’s expectations and became Australia’s second-highest international wicket-taker with 1,001 wickets across all formats. He has 708 wickets in his name in Tests. He played a key role in Australia’s 1999 World Cup victory, for which he was named ‘Player of the Match’ in the final.
Apart from this, Bradman also had a prediction about Steve Waugh in his letter. Bradman had recognized the talent of Steve Waugh in 1985 itself. Sir Don Bradman had written about Steve Waugh, “Young Steve Waugh shows every indication of being an excellent batsman.” Let us tell you that Waugh became one of Australia’s greatest players, who scored 18,496 international runs and led the team to World Cup victories in 1987 and 1999.
In 1995, Bradman had also given his opinion about Ricky Ponting (Don Bradman’s old Prediction On Ricky Ponting) and believed that Ponting was going to go far in Tests and would make many records. In a letter written on October 22, 1995, he wrote, “Tasmania’s young Ponting played a beautiful innings here yesterday and he has the potential to become a great Test batsman. Let us tell you that Ponting will become one of the greatest cricket players of all time.” He led Australia to consecutive World Cup wins in 2003 and 2007 and scored 27,368 international runs, the most by any Australian batsman. Ponting also became the batsman who scored the most centuries for Australia.
What did Sir Don Bradman write about Sachin and Warne (What Don Bradman thought of Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne battle)
In letters written between 1984–1998 – which were donated to the National Library by Brough’s family – Bradman shared a wide range of views about the game, particularly the future of the game. And also in this letter he also gave his opinion about Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. The letter written by Don Bradman has revealed how eager he was about the match between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne before the 1998 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He had written about both of them in his letter that, our players are going to India this week and they are going to have a tough test in home conditions. Tendulkar is probably the best batsman in the world and his battle with Warne should be exciting.”
