Trust your game and emulate Virat Kohli to bounce back: Ponting advises Smith and Labuschagne

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has offered advice to struggling batters Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to trust their game like star India batter Virat Kohli in order to improve their performance in the remaining four Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Labuschagne was all at sea against Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian pacers in the opening Test at Perth, which the Aussies lost by a whopping 295-run margin, making a 52-ball 2 and 3.

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transform: rotate(32deg); animation: shinerMooving 3s infinite; z-index: 1; filter: blur(1px); } @keyframes shinerMooving { 0% { left: -40px; } 100% { left: 150%; } } Top 15 buys at IPL 2025 Auction Rishabh Pant ₹ 27 Cr DC LSG Total Match 111 Total Runs 3284 Highest Score 128 runs Shreyas Iyer ₹ 26.75 Cr KKR PBKS Total Match 115 Total Runs 3127 Highest Score 96 runs Venkatesh Iyer ₹ 23.75 Cr KKR KKR Total Match 50 Total Runs 1326 Highest Score 104 runs Wickets 3 Best Bowling 2/29 Arshdeep Singh ₹ 18 Cr PBKS PBKS Total Match 65 Total Runs 29 Highest Score 10 runs Wickets 76 Best Bowling 5/32 Yuzvendra Chahal ₹ 18 Cr RR PBKS Total Match 260 Total Runs 37 Highest Score 8 runs Wickets 205 Best Bowling 5/40 Jos Buttler ₹ 15.75 Cr RR GT Total Match 107 Total Runs 3582 Highest Score 124 runs KL Rahul ₹ 14 Cr LSG DC Total Match 132 Total Runs 4683 Highest Score 132 runs Trent Boult ₹ 12.50 Cr RR MI Total Match 104 Total Runs 83 Highest Score 17 runs Wickets 121 Best Bowling 4/18 Jofra Archer ₹ 12.50 Cr MI RR Total Match 35 Total Runs 195 Highest Score 27 runs Wickets 46 Best Bowling 3/15 Josh Hazlewood ₹ 12.50 Cr RCB RCB Total Match 12 Total Runs - Highest Score - Wickets 12 Best Bowling 3/24 Mohammed Siraj ₹ 12.25 Cr RCB GT Total Match 93 Total Runs 109 Highest Score 14 runs Wickets 93 Best Bowling 4/21 Mitchell Starc ₹ 11.75 Cr KKR DC Total Match 41 Total Runs 105 Highest Score 29 runs Wickets 51 Best Bowling 4/15 Phil Salt ₹ 11.50 Cr DC RCB Total Match 21 Total Runs 653 Highest Score 89 runs Ishan Kishan ₹ 11.25 Cr MI SRH Total Match 105 Total Runs 2644 Highest Score 99 runs Wickets - Best Bowling - Jitesh Sharma ₹ 11 Cr PBKS RCB Total Match 40 Total Runs 730 Highest Score 49 runs Check Full Coverage

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 told ICC Review.

Ponting cited how Kohli broke the shackles at Perth.

"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.

Kohli fell to Josh Hazlewood for five in the first innings but made an unbeaten 100, his 30th Test hundred, in the second innings that helped India set a massive 534-run target.

"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," 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 eleven.

"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 added.

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

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