Jake Fraser-McGurk’s ‘X-Factor’ Changes Delhi Capitals’ Fortunes in IPL 2024

From not being a first-choice pick for any IPL side to entering record books in the tournament, Jake Fraser-McGurk has stamped his authority in IPL 2024. The 22-year-old from Australia, now has the IPL record of most number of fifties (3) within 20 balls.

In just seven innings in the IPL, McGurk achieved the landmark, overtaking the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sunil Narine, Travis Head and others. On Tuesday (May 7) at the Arun Jaitley stadium, he smashed a 19-ball fifty against Rajasthan Royals and became the third highest run-scorer for the Capitals. With 309 runs and a strike rate of 235.88, McGurk is gradually becoming the backbone of DC’s batting line-up.

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With fearless hitting in the powerplay, one can also call him the ‘Mr. Powerplay’, this season. He has hovered around a strike rate of more than 300 in the first six overs in the IPL, making him a standout player in the DC camp.

Reflecting on McGurk’s performances so far, his childhood coach Shannon Young in an exclusive conversation with CricketNext, opened up about the extraordinary qualities in the youngster.

He said, “The X-factor in him is that he just picks up line and length earlier than others. When he hits the ball, people watch and he can do things that not a lot of other people can do. I believe in terms of technique, he picks up the ball earlier. He can actually hit balls where traditional techniques tell that it shouldn’t be hit but he does that because he gets into such a good position and then picks up line and length so early.”

“He is super powerful and he has got a strong base which is a common term that we use in cricket. So, he explodes from the point of contact and has the ability to hit at high impact areas,” he added.

After McGurk’s debut, DC won five games of the total seven they played and he registered four fifties in them. Out of the four, three came in DC’s winning cause – against Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. With all these victories, the Capitals also managed to jump from the bottom of the points table to 5th position.

In terms of performances, he played his best knock against Mumbai Indians (84 off 27) where he smacked a 15-ball fifty and got into an attacking mode from the first ball itself. He almost replicated the same against the Royals as well.

On Tuesday, he entered the field with an average of 57.33 and a strike rate of around 300 against the team in pink. For a couple of overs, he remained relatively silent but when Trent Boult returned for his second, McGurk switched to his brutal side. He hit a six and a couple of fours, resulting in a 15-run over. But that was just a trailer.

What unfolded next was an assault on Royals’ pacer Avesh Khan. McGurk started Avesh’s over with three consecutive fours and then brought up two maximums and a four in the last three deliveries (6, 4, 6). Rajasthan by then had realized that his wicket was the most important for them. They handed over the next over to experienced Ravichandran Ashwin and he did the job effectively for the team with a low full toss that McGurk played flat towards Donovan Ferreira at covers.

The Aussie batter has given great starts to the Capitals this season but hasn’t been able to carry the momentum for a longer time in the game. Young believes that IPL has given McGurk a platform to get better but consistency is the area where the youngster will have to put extra work.

“The biggest challenge for Jake is his consistency. He is a very young kid; he has got the fastest List A hundred – 100 off 29 balls and he also debuted for Australia at 21. If you look at the history, particularly Australia, there haven’t been many players at 21. Ricky Ponting comes to mind but there haven’t been many sensations. David Warner, obviously did burst on the scene in T20s and that sort of is what Jake’s trying to do.

“He has got the potential to be the next big thing. He has the talent, he has work ethics which a lot of people don’t have and then he works really hard. What has started to happen is that a lot of selectors, people in Australian cricket, Ricky Ponting being one, particularly as the coach of Delhi (Capitals) have identified that he is a special talent and if you expose special talent at the highest level which is effectively this level (IPL) then it will get better,” said Young.

For someone who must have followed IPL, it would have been difficult to digest that McGurk hasn’t been included in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad. DC head coach Ricky Ponting was also one amongst the surprised ones after the rookie’s exclusion.

Ahead of the Rajasthan game in Delhi, Ponting stated, “Everyone’s been pretty impressed with Jake Fraser-McGurk, he’s an ultra-talented kid, and I was a little surprised he was not included in the Australian squad. Had he and Travis Head walked out together it would have been something else.”

However, it’s just the beginning for the Aussie youngster who might become the next big sensation in T20 cricket where he will dominate the format with fearless and fiery hitting.