Australia's man in a hurry David Warner can be grateful for the explosion in popularity of Twenty20 cricket.

It seems the diminutive opening left-hander and T20 are a natural fit, such has been his extraordinary entry and impact on the stand-and-deliver form of the abbreviated game.

Warner, 22, this year became the first player in 132 years to debut for Australia without playing first-class cricket, such was his prodigious reputation after clubbing a one-day record knock of 165 for his state New South Wales.

Although not considered good enough to play Sheffield Shield cricket for NSW, he ripped into the South African bowling on his international Twenty20 debut, peeling off a rollicking 89 off 43 balls at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on January 11.

Warner smashed seven fours and six sixes in his all-action innings to finish just 11 runs short of becoming only the second player after Chris Gayle to score a Twenty20 International century in his man-of-the-match performance.

Skipper Ricky Ponting compares Warner's rumbustious hitting with former master-blaster Adam Gilchrist.

"He hit some huge sixes tonight when I was out there, it was some of the sweetest hitting I've seen," Ponting said of Warner's cameo. "It was like having 'Gilly' there again."

His new-won fame earned an IPL contract with Delhi Daredevils and a deal to use a unique two-sided bat. Warner hit 163 runs off 132 balls faced in seven knocks for the Daredevils.

As the short-game batting sensation heads to the World Twenty20 he has racked up 177 runs in five innings for Australia at 35.40.

Warner has been described as pure cricket box-office and has developed an aggressive switch hitting style where he often uses the back of his bat or takes a right-handed stance to go after the bowling.

He generates enormous power from his strong forearms and uses his small stature to get underneath deliveries and hit them high in the air.

In one T20 match for his state this year, he smoked a six off express bowler Shaun Tait that landed on the roof of one of the Adelaide Oval stands.

"It's not like I'm trying to hit every ball into the next suburb," Warner says of his pyrotechnic batting. "Basically, if it's in my area, I'm not going to hold back.

"If it's ball one or the last ball of the day, I'm still not going to hold back. I know when to be more careful, but basically, I want to score off every ball.

"I just have to back myself. You get a good start and the crowd starts going and you want to keep going on the roll."