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Legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting has named soon-to-be 23-year-old batter Jake Fraser-McGurk as replacement for injured opener Matthew Short's replacement for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against India in Dubai on March 4. Ponting feels the young batter who is inexperienced in ODIs has the ability to play a match-winning knock in a big encounter like the semifinal.
"He can slot straight into that position," he said on The ICC Review. "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."
Fraser-McGurk has played seven ODIs so far and scored at an average of 14. His ultra-aggressive approach hasn't helped him so far and his highest score of 41 in ODIs came more than a year ago against West Indies at home. Recently, he registered two single-digit scores in Colombo. Ponting feels Fraser-McGurk will be disappointed with himself but might just play a whirlwind knock like he did for Delhi Capitals (DC) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
"He probably has been a little bit disappointed with his output in the opportunities that he's had in the last six months. So this might just be the game where he can do something...like he did in the IPL with the Delhi Capitals last season," he said.
Smith and Inglis to open if not Fraser-McGurk
However, Dubai's pitch has helped the spinners which will required application from batters and not go after the bowlers straightaway. Ponting feels that if they don't go with Fraser-McGurk, the two options to open alongside Travis Head are captain Steve Smith and in-form wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis.
"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," the 50-year-old said
"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," he added.
Meanwhile, Head has had a good record against India of late. He scored a match-winning century in the ODI World Cup 2023 final. The southpaw averages over 43 against India and scores runs at a strike rate more than 100.
