‘Virat Kohli Went Back To…’: Ricky Ponting’s Valuable Advice For Smith And Labuschagne Ahead Of 2nd Test

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has offered valuable advice to struggling batters Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, citing the example of India batter Virat Kohli, to turn their fortunes around in the remaining four Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Labuschagne managed scores of just two and three across a pair of knocks in the opening Test at Perth, which Australia lost by a whopping 295-run margin. On the other hand, Smith also looked out of sorts while making a first-ball duck and 60-ball 17 before getting out to Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the first and second innings respectively.

“Marnus looked the most tentative out of all the batters in Perth. Yes, it was high quality bowling on a difficult wicket, but he needs to find a way to turn it around,” Ponting told ICC Review.

Ponting gave an example of Kohli, who scored a century in the second-innings of Perth Test after being dismissed for just five in the first innings.

“Virat went back to trusting his game and he looked like a different player in the second innings than he did in the first innings. He got away from trying to combat the opposition and focused on his strengths. That’s what Marnus and Smith need to do – find their own way and show great intent,” the former Aussie skipper said.

The 49-year-old Ponting, who has 13378 runs from 168 Tests with 41 hundreds, stressed the importance of adopting an aggressive mindset, particularly against world-class bowlers like Bumrah, who tore apart the Australian line-up with an important five-wicket haul in the first innings.

“You have to find a way to take risks and put it back on those guys because you know Bumrahs of the world they’re not going to give you too many easy scoring opportunities and when they do you’ve got to be ready to pounce on it and put it away and try and put some pressure back on them,” he explained.

Despite Australia’s crushing defeat in the opening Test to go 0-1 behind in the five-match series, the former skipper wants no team changes made for the pink-ball contest in Adelaide.

“I’d be sticking with the same side. I think you have to show faith in champion players and a lot of the guys that we’re talking about in this team have been champion players. Maybe not for a little while, but they have proven their ability on the big stage,” said Ponting.

Australia will take on India in the second Test, a day-night match at Adelaide from December 6 but without injured pacer Josh Hazlewood. 

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