Brett Lee explains why Steve Waugh's philosophy put his selection under threat, calls Ponting better captain

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Former Australia pacer Brett Lee has said that he enjoyed playing under Ricky Ponting's captaincy more than under the tenure of Steve Waugh who would use him mainly as "a shock bowler'.

Talking on JioCinema's show 'Home of Heroes’, Lee recalled that Waugh would ask him to not care about the runs he leaked and just asked him to get a wicket.

He said because of this philosophy from Waugh, his bowling figures would look untidy enough to raise doubt in the minds of the selectors who were unaware of the role he was playing in the team.

"Totally different. Steve Waugh, his philosophy was to use me a lot differently. So I was used as a shock bowler. Which was exactly what he was trying to do. Like bring me on, he said - I don't care if you go for 40 runs off four overs if you get us a wicket, get a breakthrough that's going to set us up to crack open that middle order and then you get the wicket and the captain’s happy, the coaches happy," Lee told JioCinema.

"But when you look up at your figures on the board or the next time that the selection camera and they've gone through the numbers, it didn't play as pretty as it should because you know I've got one for forty off six overs. You know they go on about why his economy is so high but in context I was doing the job I was asked to do. But yeah, I mean he was great to play for obviously someone that I looked up to under Steve Waugh," he added.

Ponting got best out of me: Lee

Further, Brett Lee revealed how Ricky Ponting understood his game more than Steve Waugh. He also praised the Delhi Capitals (DC) coach for being transparent with each of his players and never criticise them in public. He said other captains had different things to say in public and private.

I think it would have been Ricky Ponting that got the best out of myself under his guidance and I think the reason why was because he understood my game more than Steve. So, I really enjoyed playing on both, but I certainly enjoyed playing under Pointing. Great man manager.

You know, the type of guy that would have the hard conversation, very transparent, say, look, you are not playing tomorrow because this, this, this if you do this, get back in the sport, work on your fitness, work hard on you, get your ankles right, whatever it might be. But publicly would support me, never he'd never say anything bad about his players publicly. Whereas I've played under other captains that you know, and I'd probably say one thing to the public and one thing to you I don't necessarily always agree with.