Australia’s young top-order batter Jake Fraser-McGurk made an emphatic debut for Delhi Capitals (DC) with a half-century. In his second game, he got a chance to open the innings in David Warner’s absence. The attacking batter in the run chase of 90 made his intentions clear from the first ball itself. Against Gujarat Titans’ (GT) debutant Sandeep Warrier, Fraser-McGurk smashed the first ball for a six. The approach left DC’s Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly amused as he left the dugout laughing.
In the run chase of 90, Fraser-McGurk followed up the six with a four down the ground. He did not spare Spencer Johnson and smashed him for a six over backward point. After three dot deliveries, he managed to hit a boundary as well. But Johnson had the last laugh against the 22-year-old as the latter played a flick shot and handed an easy catch to Abhinav Manohar at mid-wicket. The opener departed for a 10-ball 20.
After DC chased down the total in the ninth over, Fraser-McGurk revealed that he got the license to go after the bowlers as they needed to improve their net run rate (NRR).
“Trying to get off to a nice start, try and get the NRR to our favour. When you're riding this wave (of form), you have to try and do it for a long time, cricket is a funny game. We got the better of the conditions, dew came in, the ball skidded on and made batting easier (in the second innings),” he told the broadcasters after Rishabh Pant-led DC’s six-wicket win.
On playing under Ponting
Fraser-McGurk also talked about playing under head coach Ricky Ponting. The youngster also said that he doesn’t think twice before taking the attacking approach.
“I didn't play a lot of spin as well. It's pretty surreal, you have to pinch yourself to have played along with him (on Ricky Ponting), I remember in his last Test, Nathan Lyon coming on and talking about it. We have now got the confidence going, started slowly and lost a few matches, but we now have a hang on our own game, I didn't need a second invitation to get going (on being aggressive), that was my natural game,” he added.
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