Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting thinks the struggling David Warner runs the risk of missing out on the Ashes series and his Test career might end on a tragic note following his prolonged dry run with the bat.

Ponting feels Warner would struggle to find a place in the touring Ashes squad and his Test career might just not end on his own terms.

Warner had a torrid tour of India, where he scored 1, 10 and 15 in three innings before returning home with a fractured elbow.

The left-hander had struggled in the last England tour in 2019, averaging just 9.5.

“I’ve heard him talk before about their cycle. This current cycle will finish after the World Test Championship, which is obviously the week before the first Ashes Test and I would think all going well that they want to get David through until the end of that Test match at least,” Ponting was quoted as saying by RSN Cricket.

“It’s up to him though. The only currency you have as a batsman is runs and if you’re not scoring any, you leave yourself open.

“It’s happened to all of us, it happened to me. When you get to a certain age and it looks like your form is dropping off slightly, then the knives are sharpened and it doesn’t take long,” he added.

Ponting feels Warner should have quit after scoring a double hundred in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Melbourne last summer, which was also his 100th match, or after the next game at his home ground in Sydney.

“For him to finish the way he deserves to finish, the obvious thing for me was maybe to pull the pin after Sydney.

“He got 200 in Melbourne, played his 100th Test, played his 101 Test in Sydney, his home ground and maybe finish there,” he said.

“The last thing he deserved is to be away on a tour and get in to the middle of a series and get dropped and his career is over. That would be an awful way for him to finish.

“He’s a driven little man, a pretty stubborn little bugger, so we’ll see how he goes,” the former captain said.