In an innings of power but also precision, Fraser-McGurk did not look out of place opposite the outrageous talents of Rishabh Pant, doing the heavy hitting to take Delhi to only their second win of the tournament so far.
“It’s just a different cricket world over here. Never seen anything like it, heard a lot about it, it’s just amazing,” Fraser-McGurk said after his innings. “I’ve spent the last five, six games on the sidelines just watching it and itching to get out there. So just to get out there and have my first game, I’m stoked.
Jake Fraser-McGurk was thrilled to get playing time in the IPL.Credit: AP
“I tried not to swing too hard, not lose my shape and tried to find the middle of the bat. That’s what I’ve been doing the last 12 months – why change it?”
IPL success is widely seen as the blue riband for T20 players, ensuring not only a rich bounty in India but also allowing high-performing players to more or less take their pick in overseas leagues.
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Nevertheless, Fraser-McGurk is still only an outside chance of squeezing into the Australian World Cup squad that will be named next month, given a logjam for top order spots that also includes Marsh, David Warner, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Matt Short and Steve Smith.
The preliminary squad will be named later this month, before it is pared down to a final 15 on May 25.
Short has already been somewhat repurposed as a middle order player who can also bowl creditable off-spin. Smith, having failed to make an impact for Australia in his most recent T20 appearances, has said he is at peace with the possibility of missing the World Cup squad, and has signed to join Ponting at the Washington franchise in the US-based Major League Cricket competition in July.
In English county cricket, Scott Boland was restricted to just 13 overs in his first appearance for Durham due to what the club captain Scott Borthwick called a “calf or ankle” niggle. Nathan Lyon twirled down nearly 40 overs for Lancashire, plucking three wickets.