Ponting calls spell from Akhtar as fastest he ever faced

With the world coming to a standstill due to the coronavirus outbreak, current and former cricket stars have been interacting with fans on social media as sporting events have either been cancelled or suspended. And former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has called a spell he faced from Shoaib Akhtar as the fastest ever.

Taking to Twitter, he posted the video of the over and wrote: "Got plenty of questions the other day after calling the Flintoff over the best I'd faced. This from @shoaib100mph was the fastest spell I'd ever faced and trust me Justin wasn't backing up too far at the other end."

Ponting had earlier said that Andrew Flintoff's fiery and magical over during the 2005 Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston was the "best over" he ever faced in his playing days.

England had won the game by two runs in a thrilling encounter and Ponting still remembers Flintoff's fiery over from that match.

The official Twitter handle of England Cricket posted a video of that over and Ponting responded to it saying: "Best over I ever faced. Class reverse swing at 90odd mph!"