Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting advised struggling batters Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to trust their game like India’s star batter Virat Kohli to turn their fortunes around in the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Continuing a prolonged batting slump, Labuschagne failed to negotiate the Indian attack led by Jasprit Bumrah in the opening Test at Perth, which the Aussies lost by a whopping 295-run margin, making a 52-ball 2 and 3. Smith looked equally out of sorts while making a first-ball duck and 60-ball 17 before succumbing 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 was quoted as saying by the ICC Review.
Ponting urged the duo to find their own way like Kohli, who managed to break the shackles at Perth with his 30th Test ton, and seventh overall on Australian soil. After falling for five in the first innings, the prolific right-hander made an unbeaten 100 in the second innings that helped India set a massive 534-run target.
“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,” Ponting said.
“He (Kohli) got away from trying to combat the opposition and focused on his strengths. That’s what Marnus and (Steve) Smith need to do – find their own way and show great intent,” said Ponting.
Ponting, who has 13378 runs from 168 Tests with 41 hundreds, asked the Australian batters to take more risk and apply pressure on the Indian bowlers.
“You have to find a way to take risks and put it back on those guys because you know the Bumrahs of the world they’re not going to give you too many easy scoring opportunities. 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 suffering a massive defeat in the opening Test to go 0-1 behind in the five-match series, Ponting cautioned the Aussies against making wholesale changes to the XI.
“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,” he said.