Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting has questioned the sustainability of rookie Sam Konstas’ “reckless” style and urged him to temper his confrontational approach to opposition players.
Ponting, speaking on the ICC Review Podcast alongside Ravi Shastri this week, said he felt Konstas took his own team by surprise with his antics in his two Tests to finish the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
“I actually don’t know what to make of it so far, to be honest,” Ponting said of Konstas’ arrival.
“He just seemed to be this little pest running around trying to upset the Indians everywhere that he goes.
“There’s no doubt the way that he started in Melbourne, that definitely flustered India.
“They weren’t ready for that. In fact, I don’t think Sam’s teammates were ready for what he did that morning on day one.
Sam Konstas takes a swing at the SCG. (Photo by Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
“Because he doesn’t play that way in Sheffield Shield cricket. He doesn’t need to. But when you’re taking a step up against the best bowlers in the world and you’re under pressure with your defensive game, you’ve got to try and find a way to score.
“So what it looked like for me with Sam was when he started playing the ramps and the scoops, that was because he just wasn’t trusting his defence enough. We saw that he’s got some shots, but a lot of the shots that we saw were reckless.
“I don’t think you can survive as a Test opening batsman playing like that all the time.”
Ponting seem less excited by Konstas’ clash with Jasprit Bumrah in Sydney as his opening partner Usman Khawaja tried to run down the clock in the final over.
Khawaja was dismissed and the Indian team targeted Konstas in their celebrations, leading to Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald leaping to the teenager’s defence.
“That wasn’t Sam’s battle. The battle was between Bumrah and Khawaja,” said Ponting.
“Batsmen will always try and take time out of the game to try and slow it down. Bowlers will always rush through. But the way that I was taught to play the game is when the bowler is ready, the batsmen should be ready to face up.
“When Sam decided to get involved, then Usman had to leave his crease and come down and try and settle things down. And I actually think that made Usman lose his concentration. If you look at the way that he played that last ball, he went back to one that was pretty much a half volley.
“So I don’t think he was switched on in the moment either. So I think there was a huge learning curve there for Sam. Stay out of it. It’s not your fight.
“Your fight is going to be the next morning when you go back and face up to that attack.”
He said McDonald was right to defend Konstas, while adding the India players did nothing wrong.
“I had no issue with the way they celebrated. Because if someone starts something, you’re going to come back harder,” Ponting said.
Shastri it would be good for Konstas to continue his career with Tests in Sri Lanka next month, as a way of taking some of the hype and emotion out of his performance.
“He was like a cat on a hot tin roof. He wanted to announce himself straight away,” said Shastri.
“There was a lot of talk he’s someone who’ll take the attack to the opposition. And he wanted to walk the talk. And he did that. He flustered India.
“There’s no doubt about that in Melbourne. But my advice to him would be, you’ve got talent. The focus should be scoring runs more than anything else. You focus on your strengths. You play the way you want. But remember one thing that as an opening batsman, you’ve got to back your defence as well.
“I think this tour of Sri Lanka in many ways will help him. Getting out of Australia, playing overseas and then getting to learn a lot of other things and maturing.”
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