One of the most astute moves made by a cricketer recently went largely unnoticed, as perhaps several felt that was a sulky over-reaction to a devastating emotional loss of the Ashes. And that too a catastrophic second time on the enemy’s well-laid battle-field. I am referring to Ricky Ponting’s (34) determined decision to quit T20 cricket to further lengthen principally his Test career, now in it’s testing last quarter. On the face of it, it looks professionally imprudent and commercially unwise, and evidently swimming against mounting tides. After all, we have had diametrically opposite reactions from the majority of cricketers, including Adam Gilchrist and Matt Hayden amongst others, who have preferred the pragmatic get-rich-quick-scheme of T20 over whatever remained of their Test and ODI careers. Then there were others like Shane Bond who switched sides to ICL with speed as fast as a bowling machine can capture, their national commitments and official records be damned. That is what makes Ponting’s decision, in my opinion, a tactically brilliant one, well-conceived, thoughtfully internalised. But most importantly, with a purpose.

Ponting has not explicitly admitted it publicly but the truth is that the Australian captain has deep down inside complete contempt for the meaningless travesty that is T20. It was amply manifested in the casual cavalier manner of the Aussies’ inglorious performance in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. It happens after you have scored more than 12,000 Test and 10,000 ODI runs, you do not quite feel the motivational urge to re-establish your towering credentials in another format, no matter the popular call or money imperatives. Sachin Tendulkar (36) like Ponting is equally foxed at the T20 marketing phenomenon benefiting from the irrational exuberance of TV ratings and excited administrators.

Sachin and Ponting are the world’s best classical Test players and ODI batsmen. Given a choice, Sachin will honestly prefer to be a gleeful spectator along with his family watching the Mumbai Indians in their evening entertainment sweat-out while munching popcorns. But unlike Ponting, he does not have much of a choice. I suspect the deadly trio of BCCI-IPL-Mumbai Indians will not let him go that easily and he is fully aware of that. Because if Sachin quits T20, expect a massive calamitous fall in TRP ratings across networks for a few seasons. Think valuations. This man is not just a cricketing genius, he is an awesome brand power, India’s national treasure.

Ponting and Tendulkar are separated by 20 months in age, 1,428 runs and four centuries in Tests, the only true barometer of international class, of genuine comparison of greats. The only kind of cricket that Sir Don Bradman, Len Hutton and Vivian Richards played. The difference between them based on pro-rata extrapolation is within striking distance for Ponting. In ODIs, Tendulkar is virtually as insurmountable as the Himalayan peaks.

True greatness lies in Test cricket and both Tendulkar and Ponting will give their right arm and elbow to go down as the ultimate greatest. And there are two undisputed measures for that; Test aggregate runs and centuries list; both manifest dominance, longevity and brilliance. Of course, on further investigation one will have to add match-winning knocks as well, but maybe we can discuss that some other time.

Ponting realises perhaps that he may have missed out on the media hype factor to Sachin, but the urge to overtake Tendulkar is high. Ponting can lay claim to having additionally shouldered responsibility for being a fairly successful skipper (barring the dismal Ashes loss 2009) and more importantly led Australia to two successive World Cup victories and even the elusive ICC Champions Trophy. Tendulkar abdicated captaincy, Ponting relished it and even vanquished his foes. But batting records will not capture those impressive leadership feats.

Maybe Ponting’s searing patriotic pride of retaining the masterful title of the modern Bradman on native home turf will give him that motivational prop. For Tendulkar, it will be about preserving that anointment through his customary grit and that insatiable hunger.

They are both undoubtedly great. But who will perhaps end as the greatest-of-all-time of our modern era is still subject to debate and maybe two years.