Jake Fraser-McGurk marked his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut with a striking half-century, propelling the Delhi Capitals to a six-wicket victory over the Lucknow Super Giants on Friday. The win rekindled Delhi's prospects in the tournament.
Fraser-McGurk, who turned 22 the day before the match, partnered with team captain Rishabh Pant to construct a pivotal 77-run third-wicket partnership. This effort was instrumental in Delhi successfully chasing down Lucknow's target of 167-7 with 11 balls to spare.
With this win, Delhi climbed to ninth place in the 10-team league, registering their second win in six matches. Conversely, Lucknow, who entered the game with three victories in four matches, dropped to fourth place.
"Spent five-six games on the sidelines itching to get out there," Fraser-McGurk commented. "I'm so happy to be here, different world in terms of cricket. Never seen anything like it, to be able to savor eight weeks, hopefully more, is amazing."
The Capitals faced an early setback when opener David Warner was dismissed after a brief injury scare, but Fraser-McGurk and Pant quickly steadied the ship. Fraser-McGurk's innings included three consecutive sixes off Krunal Pandya, showcasing his powerful batting. He scored 55 runs off 35 balls, featuring five sixes and two fours, before being caught by Arshad Khan.
Pant, accelerating the chase, scored 41 off 24 balls, including two sixes and four boundaries, taking him past the milestone of 3,000 IPL runs before being stumped off Ravi Bishnoi.
Lucknow captain KL Rahul felt his team had fallen short with their total. "We were about 15-20 runs short, we should've capitalized to get to 180," he said. "McGurk was very unknown. We've watched a lot of videos of him, but he hit the ball really well, credit to him."
Earlier in the day, despite a strong start after opting to bat first, Lucknow struggled post-powerplay, losing wickets in quick succession including two in two balls to Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with figures of 3-20.
Ayush Badoni's spirited 55 off 35 balls, his first fifty of the season, along with a partnership with Arshad Khan, helped Lucknow post a competitive score.
(AFP)
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