- Jake Fraser-McGurk earns T20 World Cup call-up
- The young Australian scored 84 off just 27 for the Delhi Capitals
- The great Australian says the selectors will think about him
Just days before Australia names its team for the T20 World Cup, Jake Fraser-McGurk has made an irresistible demand for a place with his latest astonishing display of batting pyrotechnics in the IPL.
The 22-year-old Delhi Capitals opener pulverized the Mumbai Indians’ attack with 84 off just 27 balls at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, including a half-century off 15 deliveries, the fourth-fastest in the annals of the IPL.
He propelled Delhi, again without David Warner, who is still nursing an injured finger, to a massive 4-257, and Mumbai then fell short by 10 runs at 9-247, despite a late burst from Tim David, with his 37 off 17 balls.
Watching Fraser-McGurk from the commentary box, former Australia captain Michael Clarke couldn’t help but enthuse: “The selectors have to be thinking about him now, with the team just days away from selection. To be honest , it’s hard to leave him out, the way he’s played so far.
Young Australian Jake Fraser-McGurk has sent a strong statement to the T20 selectors
‘I imagine the conditions will be quite similar in the Caribbean, slower terrain with that extra power needed on the power play. It hasn’t hurt his chances and I’d love to see him in that 15″ team.”
It was impressive stuff from the start when Box Hill bowler Fraser-McGurk beat left-armer Luke Wood for four, four and six off his first three balls and then had the temerity to smash Jasprit Bumrah all over the park for the world pacemaker. worst IPL this season, with 18.
In total, ‘JFM’ hit 11 fours and six sixes in his dazzling knock, registering the highest of his three half-centuries accumulated in just five matches since coach Ricky Pointing decided to gamble on putting him in a struggling team.
With Warner and Mitch Marsh injured, he came in for 247 runs at an extraordinary strike rate of 237.50.
“He has 22 sixes and 220 of those 247 runs have been within boundaries; that’s crazy, T20 batting at a new level,” declared former Indian Test star Sanjay Manjrekar.
Fraser-McGurk, who even looked on course to beat Chris Gayle’s IPL record of a 30-ball century until he holed out with a push too many, took home all the applause, not to mention the JFM face masks in the crowd. – with a pinch of salt.
“That’s my role,” he shrugged, after smashing 78 alone in the six-major power play. “I go out and score as many goals in the first six as I can and if I keep it up, I’ll keep it up.”
“Not at all,” he smiled when asked if he was a player who could get the odd single. “If I get one or two, then it’s probably the last ball of the over, or I screw it up.”
The 22-year-old bowled out the Mumbai Indians attack to the tune of 84 off just 27 balls at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
But T20 cricket can be fickle. In the day’s other match in Lucknow, Marcus Stoinis, fresh off his brilliant match-winning 124th against Chennai, was bowled by Sandeep Sharma for a four-ball duck as his Justin Langer-coached Super Giants were defeated by seven wickets apiece. . Rajasthan Royals.
After captain KL Rahul led the way for Lucknow with a 48-ball 76 at 5-196, Rajasthan made light work of a not insubstantial chase, led by captain Sanju Samson’s 71st and Dhruv Jurel’s 54th in an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership. of 121.