NEW DELHI: Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting showered praise on the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, labeling it as the premier domestic T20 competition globally “by a long way.”
Ponting emphasised that the IPL provides an exceptional learning platform for budding talents, citing young cricketer Jake Fraser-McGurk as an example.

Ponting, who serves as the head coach of the Delhi Capitals, expressed admiration for Fraser-McGurk’s remarkable performance.

Despite Delhi Capitals’ loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the match, Fraser-McGurk’s explosive innings of 65 runs off just 18 balls caught Ponting’s attention and earned his commendation.
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This acknowledgment from a seasoned figure like Ponting underscores the significance of the IPL in nurturing and showcasing emerging talent on the global stage.
“There is no doubt about it that he (Fraser-McGurk) is a highly talented young man but he is by no means a finished product yet. There are a lot of things to improve in his game and there are not many better places to learn than IPL because it is the best domestic T20 competition in the world by a long way,” Ponting said.
“The other day he made 65 off 18 balls but it is important he learns from that. He needs to make a 100 like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal did last night.
“Top-order batsmen, when they get an opportunity to make big scores, they should go and get it, that’s the difference between winning and losing games,” the World Cup-winning Australian skipper added.
Ponting emphasised the critical importance of execution across all facets of the game, highlighting the need for a strong start, a lesson learned from Delhi Capitals’ previous encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In that match, DC chose to field first, but their bowlers faced a relentless onslaught from Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, the opening pair for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite their best efforts, DC struggled to contain the opposition’s batting momentum. SRH ultimately posted a formidable total of 266/7, securing a commanding victory over DC by a significant margin.
“The important thing is to look back and understand what things worked for us and what didn’t work.
“We didn’t play as well under pressure as we would have liked. We knew the way Travis and Abhishek will come out and play, we planned for it but we got a little bit confused about what we were trying to do,” Ponting said on the eve of DC’s match against Gujarat Titans.
“Leaving the power play we did a really good job in the whole game, the last 14 overs to restrict them to 266 was actually a pretty good effort. And our batting in the last couple of overs we were on track.
“So there are positives to take from that game but we can’t start a game of cricket like that, we can’t be that far off from execution because in this competition, against good players, these things will count,” he added.
Coming back to Fraser-McGurk, Ponting expressed his desire to work with the 22-year-old and help him polish his skills.
“He is learning and I would like to work with him more for the next couple of years. He is just a terrific kid. He has simple game plan, hit the first ball for 6, second ball for 6, and we are letting him go and play as he wants to,” he said.
Ponting also talked highly of young wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel, who played a few cameos for DC while coming in as an impact player.
“We have seen Porel on a couple of occasions going in at No. 3. I think he is a future star. He has got real talent.
“He is still leaning every day, he is learning about his training, he is learning about different phases of the game,” the coach said.
(With PTI inputs)