'When you've got THAT SORT of Talent...': Ricky Ponting likens young cricket star to David Warner

Australia's new sensation Jake Fraser-McGurk is quickly rising up the ranks as he is getting legends and viewers excited due to his swashbuckling batting style. The Australian youngster couldn't score big in his debut against West Indies but he managed to leave the doubters behind with a smashing 18-ball 41 in the last AUS vs WI ODI in Canberra which included five fours and three sixes. Now one of his fans is former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who is vouching for him to be fast-tracked into international cricket to further his development. 

'He looks like a young David Warner'

Ponting even compared the 21-year-old Fraser-McGurk to a young David Warner, who recently retired from Test cricket while also being at the fag end of his international career. Fraser-McGurk's trajectory might also be similar to Warner, who was also fast-tracked into international cricket. Warner made his Test debut for Australia without playing a first-class match. Ponting, however, wanted Australia not to destabilise the current setup as the present team is steady. 

"I was on record at the start of the summer saying I think he's someone that can be well and truly fast-tracked through the Australian system. Because the natural talent that he's got reminds me a bit of David Warner's introduction into Australian cricket. When we saw [Warner] at the start, I think everyone doubted whether he was going to be good enough to play Test cricket technically," Ponting was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"Obviously, there's only so many people you can pick in the World Cup squad, isn't there. I'm not saying at all that he should have been picked in the World Cup squad because they've put together a really good squad anyway, and one that on paper will look as good as probably any team going there. He'll have to bide his time. But as we saw yesterday, he looks pretty keen to make the most of the opportunities that he gets," Ponting added.

Future superstar of cricket?

Jake Fraser-McGurk scored a century off just 29 balls for South Australia against Tasmania last year, which quickly turned eyeballs towards him. Fraser-McGurk continued to stamp his authority in Australian cricket as he scored 257 runs in 9 matches in the recently concluded Big Bash League (BBL). Playing for Melbourne Renegades, Fraser-McGurk had an impressive average of 158.64. Glenn Maxwell had even called him a future superstar of cricket.