"That’s the lesson I learned" - Ricky Ponting shares advice for struggling Steve Smith and Virat Kohli ahead of BGT 2024-25
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has shared a word of advice for veteran players Virat Kohli and Steve Smith ahead of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. With Kohli and Smith experiencing a lean run of late, Ponting reckons the pair should only focus on the basics to score runs.
The focus is massively on Kohli and Smith as the five-Test series between Australia and India looms. Kohli is coming off a forgettable series against New Zealand after scoring one fifty in six innings, while Smith will return to No. 4 after not finding much success as an opener.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, the 49-year-old remarked that watching the ball closely is one of those things he should have done at the backend of his career.
"If I’d had my time again I’d have forgotten about all that stuff and just focused on watching the ball and scoring runs, and Smith and Kohli have enough good people around them to get things back on track pretty quickly. That’s the lesson I learned, and it’ll be interesting to see the mindset of Kohli and Smith this summer," Ponting said (via nine.com.au).
Ponting recalled how hard he trained in the twilight of his career, but it kept backfiring when he looked to replicate it out in the middle. He added:
"It’s difficult when you feel like you’re not playing the way that you once could, and the game feels like it’s getting a little bit harder. My batting went downhill the harder I tried. The harder I tried to be perfect then I was getting further and further away. I was fitter than ever, I was training better than ever around that time, and even when I went back to Shield cricket I made runs for fun at that level, but when I went up and was trying to do the right thing, it got harder."
The former Australia captain had a legendary Test career and is the joint most-capped player for his country in the format. However, he managed only 32 runs in his final series.
"Joe Root is a great example of someone of similar age who has found a way" - Ricky Ponting
Ponting opined that England's Joe Root is a great example for Smith and Kohli. The Tasmanian said in the same interview:
"Joe Root is a great example of someone of similar age who has found a way towards the back end of his career to play better than he did for the front end of his career. These two guys are every bit as talented as Root and before the last couple of years have better records. So it’s all there for them."
The five-Test series begins on November 22 in Perth.