Ponting concerned by Smith’s captaincy workload

:Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes compatriot Steve Smith has done well in roles of responsibility but has expressed concern over him captaining the Australian national team in all three formats and having to lead Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Smith was unveiled as captain of the Pune franchise after former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unexpectedly removed from the post.

While the former Australian skipper Ponting feels Smith has done a good job with the national team, he is wary of the workload that might befall the 27-year-old with captaincy in the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

“I’m not so sure,” Ponting told Cricket Australia’s website (cricket.com.au) when asked if captaining RPS would be a good thing for Smith.

“Knowing how taxing the captaincy can be, to be captain of three teams for Australia is hard enough. And when you’ve got another couple of months of captaincy and responsibility on top of that, it’s actually quite interesting to see how that will all play out,” he continued.

The workload Ponting mentioned was concerning the top players of the Australian team like Smith and opener David Warner who have been playing continuously since October 2016 and will be on the road until the end of the ICC Champions Trophy in June this year.

While Ponting has previously suggested that Smith give up captaincy of the Australian T20I side to balance the workload, he is of the opinion that Smith has held his own thus far.

“I came out more than 12 months ago now and (said) ... for Steve Smith’s best interests, I thought to stand down from the Australian T20 captaincy and have a little bit of a break away from all the extra stuff that you have to do might be a good thing for him mentally. But he seems to be coping pretty well with everything at the moment. But we’ll wait and see how that plays out,” Ponting said in the interview on Thursday.

The 42-year-old cricketerturned-commentator — who played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians — feels the RPS captain will do well because of his ability to think ahead of the game.

“The art of captaincy in the T20 game is staying an over or two ahead of the game and I think he does that particularly well. That’s why he’s had success.”

The art of captaincy in the T20 is staying an over or two ahead of the game and he does that particularly well. That’s why he’s had success. To be captain of three teams for Australia is hard enough. When you’ve got another couple of months of captaincy, it’s actually quite interesting .