Punter Vs Tendalia/Lara

Congratulations to Ponting aka Punter for surpassing Allan Borders feat of the highest run scorer in test cricket for Australia.Considering how consistently prolific he has been over the last eight years, it was only a matter of time before he went on to become Australia's leading run scorer in Tests.
Considering the fact that he has broken the record in 134 test is phenomenal as it is 22 tests less than what Allan Border played in his cricketing life.Immediately the next question is whether Ponting is better than Tendulkar or Lara.Its a difficult question to ask and answer and pundit all over the cricketing fraternity will have different viewpoints.
My opinion on this is purely based on as a spectator and follower of the game , I would rate Ponting definitely as a better batsman in comparison to Tendulkar and Lara and I have my own gumption's for that.
Firstly , Punter made his international test debut 6 years post Tendulkar and 5 years post Lara in December 1995.Hence both Tendular and Lara have a lead of playing 6-5 years more test cricket before Ponting burst into the scene.Tendulkar has till date played 159 tests followed by Ponting at 134 tests and Lara at 131 tests. There is very little to separate between the trio wrt to the batting average with Ponting leading the pack at 55.25 , which is also the highest amongst the top 18 test run aggregators of all time.
Now Ponting has had an advantage of being part of a very strong Australian side since the time he has made his debut right up till 2008.Hayden and Langer one of the all time opening pair greats , used to build up a good start and as a result also tire the opposition bowlers.One down Ponting used to enter the scene and start scoring his bulk of the runs , however nothing can be taken away from him as he used to ensure playing a long inning to build a huge total for the team.This was a prvilege which Lara never had throughout his career and most definitely Tendulkar never had for the first 14-15 years of his career.
In terms of the quality of bowlers they have faced the same quality in all the oppositions , with exception of the Warne factor. Having said that neither of Lara or Tendulkar have ever had any major trouble tackling Warne.
Most of the runs Ponting has scored have resulted in a win situation for Australia , which cant be said for Tendulkar and Lara.Lara and Tendulkara have a fool proof batting style and have faced all forms of attack at various surfaces successfully , the same can't be said for Ponting as he has had congenital problems with off spin.
The fact that Punter has scored all his runs with a handicap of playing test cricket for a period of less than 5-6 yesars as compared to Lara and Tendulkar , simply prove on how good a batsman he is.
One can't predict whether he can break Tendulkars record of highest amount of test runs as both players are of the same age , Ponting is building a new team for Australia and would be handing over the team to Pup over the next 2 years.This does give him an opportunity to bat for longer periods as the openers slot is fragile.
As no one can take away the tag of the best spin bowler ever from Warne even though Murali might land with 850 wickets , likewise Punter would be remembered as the best batsman ever of the modern era.