“Ponting himself opted to sit out of today’s (Wednesday) game. We wanted to get our foreign players’ combination right, and he volunteered to stay out. It takes a big heart to take such a decision,” stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma said at the post match conference.

MI skipper Ricky Ponting (centre) with Anil Kumble (left) and Harbhajan Singh in Kolkata on Wednesday