Spinner poised to play a week after surgery as Khawaja warns against Konstas shuffle

“That was a whirlwind experience,” Kuhnemann said of the India tour. “I was fortunate I arrived in Delhi the day before the boys arrived from the first Test. So I had a day by myself to have a session and calm the nerves.

“When the pitch does provide some assistance, your job is to keep hitting the same area and using the crease. But that’s about just bowling to a marker before the batters get in there. That’s how I’ve always done it and testing yourself and doing it six out of six times and putting a bit of pressure on it.”

Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon and all-rounder Beau Webster shape as the likely spin trio for Australia should they wish to play two pace bowlers in Galle. Otherwise, off-spinner Todd Murphy and Cooper Connolly are viable options to add to the slow-bowling arsenal for acting captain Steve Smith.

Khawaja, meanwhile, agrees with Ponting that Konstas should have the opportunity to open in Sri Lanka, rather than pushing Travis Head up to the top of the order as happened in India.

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“I’m very conservative in that nature – I’m a bit the same [as Ponting], you’ve got two openers so open with them,” he said. “I’ve always been that nature because I’ve been on so many subcontinent tours and been shuffled or dropped, and I don’t necessarily agree with that.

“You’ve got your best team, so stick with it. Let them learn in all different conditions and then whatever happens from there, is there.”

Reflecting on his own early days in the team, Khawaja marvelled at how the likes of Konstas, Nathan McSweeney and Connolly had struck a balance between confidence and learning from their older peers.

“You’ve got to be yourself,” Khawaja said. “19 is young – I could not even imagine myself being thrust into the Australian team at that age. It’s a steep learning curve, so he’s going to have some steep learning curves throughout his career. He’s going to learn a lot about his game and himself, go through ups and downs.

“The beauty of Sam is he’s very easy to talk to, [and] very receptive to feedback, which is a great trait to have. The younger generation have this air of confidence about them these days – Sam, Nath, Cooper, even – they’re really receptive, [and] eager to learn. You be yourself, but they’re also able to quieten down and listen when the time is right.”

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