'Good Enough To Win A Big Game: Ricky Ponting Puts His Faith In Young Batter Ahead Of IND vs AUS Champions Trophy Clash
India and Australia will face off in the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy today in Dubai.
India and Australia are going to meet once again in the knockout stages of an ICC tournament after both teams had strong finishes to their group stage matches during the currently ongoing ICC Champions Trophy. India finished top of their group after winning all three of their matches and defeating Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand. Australia on the other hand finished second, after two of their matches were washed out by rain and a win against England. This set up a rerun of the 2023 ODI World Cup final during the semifinals as the two teams will meet in Dubai.
Ponting Puts His Faith In Young Batter To Open During IND vs AUS
Australian batter Matt Short picked up a quadricep injury in the match against Afghanistan. Following his injury, Australia have been in a dilemma on who should open for them. Australian legend Ricky Ponting believes that young batter Jake Fraser-McGurk is the perfect pick to open for Australia against India in their semifinal match.
"He can slot straight into that position. To be honest, that’s the way I would probably go and just hope that he has one of his days because in games like these, the semi-finals, must-win, big games, you need to throw caution to the wind. I think he's the sort of player that if you back him, and give him an opportunity, he might just be good enough to win a big game for you like that," said Ricky Ponting as he picked Fraser-McGurk as his pick for the India vs Australia semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy while speaking to the ICC Review.
Ricky Ponting's Potential Alternatives For IND vs AUS
Apart from Jake Fraser-McGurk, Ricky Ponting also provided some potential alternatives that Australia can go with for their high profile semi-finals clash against India. He suggested that Australia could move up Steve Smith to open the batting as he has had an excellent track record opening in T20Is over the past few years.
Ponting also believes that Australia could send Josh Inglis to open and have Cooper Connolly in the middle order as a batter as he will also provide a spin bowling option.
"They could even move Steve Smith up there and open the batting. He's done a terrific job when he's opened in T20 cricket the last couple of years. He's a good player of fast bowling, which was one of the points I made before trying to negate that new ball and get through to those middle-overs.
"They could put [Josh] Inglis up there if they wanted to, and then leave someone like Cooper Connolly as another left-hander in the middle order that could give them some spin options," said Ricky Ponting as he provided some alternate options for Australia.
Published By : Arihant Rai
Published On: 4 March 2025 at 08:27 IST