Ricky Ponting has some blunt advice for fading stars Steve Smith and Virat Kohli this summer – don’t do what he did.
In his final years at the top of world cricket, Ponting pushed harder and harder to rediscover his best, spending long hours in the nets, punishing himself with fitness training and setting a standard that left younger players exhausted.
Steve Smith with Virat Kohli during Australia’s tour of India last year.Credit: Getty Images
Still dominant at domestic level, Ponting found the mental hurdles of Test cricket became so great that they compelled him to retire in 2012. Looking back, he wishes he had not pressed so hard, and hopes neither Smith nor Kohli do likewise as they rage against the dying of the light.
“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,” Seven commentator Ponting told this masthead. “My batting went downhill the harder I tried. The harder I tried to be perfect then I was getting further and further away.
“Being in the team, but not being captain with all those young guys around me, I was trying to set an example as well and show those guys the right ways to go about it. 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.
“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.”
In contrast to many observers of Kohli, 36, and Smith, 35, Ponting believes they can each find a second wind in Test cricket, much as Joe Root has for England. For one thing, neither have played anywhere near as many Tests as Ponting’s gargantuan total of 168.
“I still think they’ve got plenty of time to find their best,” Ponting said. “It might be Smudge’s time actually, after that experiment up the top. He’s back down in his more comfortable spot at No.4, which I was on record saying I don’t think he should have moved, it should have been an opener who played at that stage.
“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.
“Kohli’s played well here in the past. This attack as well, with [Mohammad] Shami not being there, there’ll be so much emphasis on [Jasprit] Bumrah. India will use Bumrah no doubt on Smith as soon as he comes out. If I was captain I’d be bringing my best bowler back on for the best player in the opposition team straight away every time.”
Smith is 315 runs away from passing 10,000 in Tests, joining Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh among Australians.
“I’ve never really been one for milestones, but to tick off 10,000 would be pretty cool,” Smith told this masthead. “There’s only a handful of players who’ve done it in the past, so it’d be pretty cool to join that group and get past that milestone, hopefully I can do it this summer.”
He has been irked by suggestions of being past his best, focusing in on reactions to an lbw dismissal against the West Indian fast bowler Kemar Roach at the Gabba in January, when he was made to look ungainly by a ball that moved a long way.
At the time, the team was quick to run to Smith’s defence, and he said public opinion about the dismissal puzzled him. “Last summer Kemar bowled me one, and I got lbw, and the ball seamed in 2½ degrees,” Smith said. “If I’m hitting that ball I’m doing something horribly wrong.
Steve Smith with former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.Credit: Getty Images
“I heard a lot of comments around people saying, ‘He’s too far across’ or whatever, and I might be, but if I’m hitting that I’m doing something extremely wrong. Or I’ve guessed, and you can’t guess, you’ve got to play the line of the ball.
“There’s no doubt it’s more challenging for batters now, but it is more rewarding if you get a big score. If you’re getting a hundred now then … back in the day you had to score big hundreds to put your team in good positions, but if you’re getting 80 to 100 now, a lot of the time you’re putting your team in a good spot in Australia.”
One man in no doubt about Smith’s chances of a resurgence at No.4 is Marnus Labuschagne, who said that the former captain had the opportunity to reassert himself as the best batting decision-maker in the game.
“I think it’s simple. He’s one of Australia’s best ever players and his most successful position is batting at four,” Labuschagne said. “So to have him back in a position where he’s comfortable, and he’s made a lot of his Test runs is perfect for us and in a big series there’s no one who plays the situation of the game better over his career.
“When you lose two wickets early, and he’s coming in and putting pressure on the opposition, he’s been amazing. Think back to how he played at Edgbaston when he first came back in 2019 and the way he played there, almost every game he was in in the first three or four overs. That’s what’s great about him.
“He can play so many different roles and that’s what makes him so valuable at four.”
