Sydney, Feb 20: National selector John Inverarity said Monday that it was unlikely that former skipper Ricky Ponting would be able to make his way back to the One-day set-up, given the need to prepare the squad ahead of the 2015 World Cup.

Ponting's ODI career might be nearing its end after the 37-year-old was dropped from the squad for the remainder of the ODI tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka.

Ponting, who made 18 runs at an average of 3.6 in five innings, makes way for current captain Michael Clarke, who has recovered from a hamstring injury. 

"Ricky is going to consider his future over the next couple of days and he'll talk it over with his family and with his manager," Inverarity said.

"He made a double century in his last Test match and we are hoping that he remains available for Test match cricket, but there can be no guarantees in elite sport and in the Australian cricket team."

Ponting is the third highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket with 13,200 runs while in ODI's he ranks second only to Sachin Tendulkar, having scored 13,704 runs at an average of 42.03 in 375 matches.

Inverarity said that the decision to drop Ponting was due to his lack of form and there were no place for sentiment in cricket.

"You don't put your heart to one side, but the head has got to dominate," Inverarity said of Ponting, who captained Australia to World Cup crowns in 2003 and 2007. "In elite sport, there's no place for sentiment."