Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was all praise for the vastly improved all-rounder, Marcus Stoinis, whose stellar performances with the bat helped coach Ponting's Delhi Capitals (DC) reach the IPL 2020 final in UAE. 

Ponting, who has joined the Australian support staff for the white-ball leg of the summer against India after having seen Stoinis' growth from close quarters with DC, is convinced, the Western Australia player is a "five times" better cricketer than the one held back by issues around his form and injury at the 2019 World Cup in UK. 

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"Alex Carey said to me, 'trust me, he's on top of his game and he's a different player than he was before'," Ponting told cricket.com.au. "And as soon as I saw him, I understood what he was talking about."

"From the moment he turned up at the IPL, having come straight from England … he was pretty keen to show me improvements that he'd made. And his first few net sessions, I could just tell then."

"Having spent a fair bit of time with him over the past couple of years, what I saw from him at the IPL suggests to me that he's a five times better player than he was 12 months ago," he added. 

Stoinis rejuvenated himself as a batsman playing for Melbourne Stars at last summer's BBL, relishing the opportunity to open and ending the tournament as the highest run-getter with 705 runs at an average of 54.23 and a strike-rate of 136.63. 

Carrying that confidence forward to the IPL, Stoinis showed an improved range in the toughest T20 competition and batted brilliantly in his flexible role as a middle-order batsman who was later pushed up the order. He made 352 runs at a strike-rate of 148.52 in DC's best campaign in the league's history, apart from filling up important overs as a sixth bowling option. 

"He's worked really hard on his play against spin bowling and that's one of the things that's slowed him down a little bit (in the past)," Ponting said. "When he's had to go out and start against quality spin, he hasn't had the options to rotate the strike as much as he would like. He's a lot more positive and aggressive against spin bowling now."

"Even the best spinners in the world were trying tie him down in the IPL, but they couldn't do it. If they over-pitched, he'd hit them straight back down the ground first ball. If they were a little bit short, he was happy to go back and pull them for six first ball."

"He's a lot more confident in his own game and he's done a lot of work on trying to get better at starting his innings, whether that's against fast bowling or spin bowling."

"In T20s, it's thrust upon him to play that way … (and) I think that's actually a good thing for him because he's got to go out and try and hit a boundary first ball. And he's starting to prove to himself, he knows within himself, that he can do that now against the best fast bowlers and spinners in the world," he added. 

Ponting agrees Stoinis can be the man to resolve Australia's late order issues in ODIs and T20Is, but he personally thinks, the strongly-built batsman is more suited at the top. 

"I think the future for him either at Delhi or whoever he plays for in T20 cricket will be at the top of the order," he said. "I think he can do (the finishing role). I think he's proven that he can do multiple different roles now."

"And I think the more responsibility he gets in the white-ball team, the better he'll be as well. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks (against India), but if he gets a decent chance at it, I think he'll impress everyone."

"With the way he's thinking about the game, with a bit of experience and the consistent exposure he's had with the Aussie guys, I don't think it really matters where he plays," Ponting signed off.