NEW DELHI, Nov 20: Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram feels that Ricky Ponting’s comments against Sunil Gavaskar were unwarranted and said that the Australian captain should refrain from bad-mouthing legendary players.

“A player of Ponting’s stature should not bad mouth a legend like Gavaskar. I don’t know why Ponting is saying all these things, but one thing is for sure that Sunny speaks his mind. He is a neutral guy and he is great,” Wasim said.

Ponting, in his book Captain’s Diary, has hit back at Gavaskar’s scathing remarks during the controversial Sydney Test between India and Australia in January. Gavaskar slammed Ponting’s unsporting captaincy in the match, which was marred with charges of racism on Harbhajan Singh and poor umpiring by Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. “Sunny is also one of the players from India who is loved in Pakistan. He is respected the world over and Ponting’s comments won’t affect his sunny image,” Wasim said.

“This is part and parcel of sports. Cricket has so much media attention, that even during an informal chat the media can extract a quote and suit themselves,” says Wasim. “These things have happened before and will continue and I do not think that these petty things will affect cricket,” he said.—Agencies