I grew up with Cricket in the 90s and if anything I've seen more of Tendulkar and Lara bat than I have Ponting. I like the aesthetics of each batsman and they are different. Tendulkar plays text-book shots, Lara is full of flair, and Ponting is just too skillful at making runs. I never got the feeling with Lara or Tendulkar the way I did with Ponting in that with Ricky scoring centuries is almost expected. He makes it look too easy - not in the sense that his technique is perfect - but in the sense that his game is on another level.
The thing with Tendulkar is that because he was so young and so good he caught a lot of attention and a lot of praise. Lara became his rival and a sort of Agassi vs Sampras or Nadal vs. Federer rivalry came to be. But Ricky himself was surrounded by massive talent, he just kept plugging away the runs with little notice. That's why Ponting does not get the same amount of praise or does not share the same amount of infamy. But where it counts, where the record is kept, he is a step above even Lara and Tendulkar. For his scoring in all conditions, in all moments of the game, against the best and the worst, home and away and at such a high rate he stands alone. There is not a modern batsman that shares his success across the board against so many opponents. If his record in India rises to 40 by the end of his career, you may as well call him Bradman Jr.
There are things that stats don't measure, and you brought one up which I think is important. Lara did have to bat alone for a good portion of his career and didn't have the cover Ponting or Sachin did. Sachin did, however, have a good portion with either Sehwag, opener x, and Dravid coming in before him, so I don't give that difference much credence. Lara is quite amazing, I rate him just above Sachin personally. He was great against the best, and in actual fact scores more per inning than the others - it's just that his lack of not outs drag his average down. But he is a tad inconsistent and does not have the complete record Ponting does so far that I mark him down. But it's also not like Ponting came out always for 100/1, he has his own proof to show his mettle. Of course, on the whole he had it a bit easier to settle in after the openers helped wear the bowlers/ball down. As aforesaid, I give this credence I'm just not sure how to quantify it to make the difference between Lara and the others. For example, Border had a similar situation, is he better than Viv then? I don't think so.
