With India and Australia gearing up to clash in the semi-final of the ongoing Champions Trophy on Tuesday in Dubai, the stakes remain high. Ahead of the big clash, Australia suffered a big jolt with their opener Matt Short being ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. Short had picked up a quad injury in Australia's group match against Afghanistan.
And, to replace him, Australia brought young talent Cooper Connolly into the squad. Australia also have the availability of young gun Jake Fraser-McGurk and the side will have to make a tough call between Cooper Connolly and Jake Fraser-McGurk for the match against India. While, Connolly is capable of helping Australia with both bat and ball, Australian legend Ricky Ponting believes that Jake Fraser-McGurk will be a viable option for Australia.
"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," Ponting said on The ICC Review.
Ponting also suggested some alternatives for Australia ahead of the major clash against India.
"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 former World Cup-winning player 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," the 50-year-old added.