Ricky Ponting's daring proposition, tells Steve Smith to 'throw caution to the wind'

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting made a risky proposition to incumbent leader Steve Smith for the all-important semifinal against Australia in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai amid the team's selection headache over filling a spot at the top of the order.

Earlier, opener Matthew Short was ruled out of the tournament, citing a quadriceps injury.

During Australia's final group game against Afghanistan last week, Short picked up the injury. His absence left Australia to promote travelling reserve Cooper Connolly into the squad. Although the all-rounder would be raring to make the most of the opportunity and take on India on the spin-friendly Dubai track, Ponting, speaking to ICC, backed big-hitting youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk to replace Short for the match against India.

"He can slot straight into that position," he said in the latest edition of The ICC Review. To be honest, that's the way I would probably go and hope that he has one of his days because in games like these, the semifinals, must-win, big games, you need to throw caution to the wind.

"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."

The 22-year-old, however, has failed to make an impression in his seven ODI appearances for Australia, scoring just 98 runs at an average of 14 but with a strike rate of 132.

Alternatively, Ponting reckoned captain Smith could also promote himself in the batting line-up after a stunning performance in the opening role in T20 cricket.

"They could even move Steve Smith up there and open the batting," Ponting said. "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."

Ponting seconds Nasser Hussain

The England great, along with Mike Atherton, were among the first to claim that India have been handed an advantage, with ICC scheduling all their Champions Trophy games in Dubai. Although India captain Rohit Sharma dismissed the claims, saying the team has played on different tracks in their three group games, Ponting labelled the side as the favourites against Australia based on the same narrative.

"I think India are going to start favourites in this game. I don't think there's any doubt about that with what they've done in the tournament so far," he said. "The fact that they're playing in the venue that they've played their games in. They haven't had to move and travel. They've been training on those wickets all the time. Australia have rushed in to Dubai to get ready for the game."