NEW DELHI: Both Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are going through a lean patch. Both former captains of their respective teams and both batting greats.
Ahead of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which begins in Perth from Friday, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has some advice for both Kohli and Smith.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Having scored six hundreds from 13 Test matches and averaging 54.08, Kohli has historically dominated red-ball cricket in Australia but he has only averaged 22.72 in his six Test matches this season.
After scoring just 91 runs in India’s shocking 0-3 series loss to New Zealand at home earlier this month, Kohli enters his seventh tour to Australia.
The 36-year-old Kohli has scored just one fifty this year – 70 against New Zealand in the second innings of the first Test at Bengaluru, while his last Test century came in July 2023 against the West Indies.
Talking to Sydney Morning Herald, Ponting said that both Virat Kohli and Steve Smith have ‘got plenty of time to find their best.’
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“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,” Ponting said. “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.”
35-year-old Steve Smith will return to the starting lineup at number four for the series opener in Perth after a fruitless time as an opener following David Warner‘s retirement. He is eager to dispel the notion that his finest days are over.
Smith has scored 19 of his 32 hundreds and amassed an incredible average of 61.46 throughout his 109-Test career, which has covered the majority of the batting order.
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“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,” Ponting said.
