Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said you want “natural winners” like David Warner in your World Cup squad even if the 37-year-old opener hasn’t been in great form of late. Australia are set to commence their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign against Oman on June 5 (Wednesday) and Warner’s place in the squad is being questioned to the fullest, especially with the emergence of the flamboyant Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Playing for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League 2024, Warner managed only 168 runs in eight innings at an average of 21 and a strike rate of 134.40. The left-hander could get only two 30-plus scores in the entire tournament. Warner, however, did make an unbeaten fifty in the warm-up match against Namibia. The opener, who has already retired from Test cricket and ODIs, is set to retire from T20Is after the World Cup. 

“He’s the sort of character you want to have around your team, especially in big tournaments like World Cups. And he’s just one of those natural winners. Everything he does, he wants to win. You can see that with his attitude in the field and the way he goes about his cricket,” Ponting told ESPNcricinfo. 

“So there’s more than just the runs that we’ll be missing when Warner finally is gone. But hopefully the depth of Australian cricket is good enough to find someone to come in and fill that void.”

Meanwhile, 22-year-old JFM took the IPL 2024 by storm with his breathtaking boundary-hitting ability in the powerplay. Fraser-McGurk smashed 330 runs across nine innings at an average of 36.66 and a strike rate of 234.04. The right-hander slammed 32 fours and 28 maximums. Two of his four fifties came off 15 deliveries, while one more was scored off 19 balls.

“It’s going to be really big set of shoes to fill, there’s no doubt about that. They have got a lot of depth there. I’d be very surprised if he (Fraser-McGurk) doesn’t go straight into the T20 team when David’s finally done. And for that matter, we saw Jake debut for Australia in the one-day stuff in the last Australian summer. I was lucky enough to coach him at the Delhi Capitals this year as well. He’s got extreme talent,” said Ponting.

Australia are currently the ODI and Test champions and now have an opportunity to win the T20 World Cup and keep all three major ICC trophies in their kitty. “It’s a really good group of players and it’s starting to get spoken about a little bit more. Certainly, even internally, you hear a lot of the players in these current teams (are) actually recognising and talking about how lucky they are and what a special team that they know that they are playing in.

“When you are involved in a group like that, it’s really important that you make every post winner. So they have got an opportunity here in a T20 World Cup to do something really special. And I know they will leave no stone unturned to give themselves the best chance to do that. They have got some very experienced players on their side.

“They have got a few leaders in the side as well. Mitchell Marsh being the captain of this team and Pat Cummins obviously being the one-day and Test captain, and Pat’s just come off a pretty successful captaincy campaign with Sunrisers (Hyderabad) as well in the IPL. So they have got a lot of bases covered and they won’t want to let this opportunity slip knowing that it could be the last World Cup that a few of these guys play as well.”

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.