London, May 31: "Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli," replied umpire Ian Gould when he was asked to name the three best batsmen he loved watching when he was officiating as an umpire.
The former ICC elite umpire said that he was unlucky to not watch Ponting bat as much as he would have liked to.
"Jacques Kallis. I loved watching Jacques. He was a very, very fine player. Sachin. And probably Virat. I was unlucky in some respects. I didn't see the best of Ricky Ponting. He was an outstanding character, outstanding captain, such a proud Australian," ESPNCricinfo quoted Gould as saying.
"But his career was just starting to wane as I came on the scene. But he was incredibly helpful, so I'm disappointed I have to leave him out. Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," he added.
Gould had retired from the ICC's panel of elite umpires in 2019, after standing in more than 250 international matches over a 13-year career.
Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.
Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.
While, Kallis played 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20Is for South Africa and he is often viewed as the greatest all-rounder the game has seen.
Many pundits of the game find it hard to pick between him and Sir Garfield Sobers.
Across his career, Kallis scored 25,534 runs in his career and he also managed to take 577 wickets.
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