Debutant Jake Fraser: Riding on debutant Jake Fraser-McGurk’s stunning 55, Delhi Capitals defeated Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets in Match 26 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday.
McGurk slammed a 35-ball 55, studded with two boundaries and five maximums as he shared a 77-run partnership with skipper Rishabh Pant to help Delhi Capitals reach 170/4 in 18.1 overs after restricting the hosts to 167/7 in 20 overs despite a superb unbeaten fifty by Ayush Badoni.
With back-to-back boundaries in the second over bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq, the Capitals openers kicked off their chase of 168 runs. Prithvi Shaw needed some treatment in the first over after taking a blow on the hand but seemed to have shaken that off. Given width to cut, he sent his fourth ball to the fence and then crunched the next – one that was much tighter to the stumps – through extra cover.
Warner also found the boundary in the opening over bowled by Arshad Khan. Yash Thakur, who claimed a maiden five-for in his last outing against Gujarat Titans, yet again provided the first breakthrough for LSG. Warner needed help from the physio before the start of the over, having taken a blow on the hand when trying to scoop Naveen, and the same shot sent him back to the pavilion against Yash’s medium pace.
The ball skidded into his body, swung back sharply, and broke the bails before Warner could flick it away. Warner departed after scoring eight runs off nine deliveries.
In came Jake Fraser-McGurk at number three and straightaway sent the second ball of his debut for a six over deep mid-wicket off Yash’s delivery. The second last over of the Power-play bowled by Arshad Khan saw 15 runs courtesy of a boundary by Prithvi Shaw and a maximum and a boundary by McGurk.
Shaw was looking dangerous with his sweep shots against spinners before getting out in Ravi Bishnoi’s first over. The specialist googly bowler unleashed one of his rare leg-breaks and that does for Shaw, who walked back to the dressing room after scoring 32 off 22 deliveries. After the end of seven overs, the Capitals needed 105 from 78 balls with eight wickets in hand.
A sliced drive at Naveen ended up in the hands of a deep third, and Fraser-McGurk walked off with 55 from 35 from his debut IPL innings. He became the third youngest overseas batter to score a half-century in the IPL, and it made the chase pretty comfortable for DC.
The Super Giants adapted quickly to what their strength has been in this season and offered a new challenge for Capitals batters- Bishnoi with his wrist spin which can be hard to pick out of the hand and Naveen ul Haq with his slower balls.
McGurk who scored 16 off just eight deliveries scored just three in the next five deliveries. Rishabh Pant completed his 3000 IPL runs after breaking a boundary drought of 29 balls in the 11th over of Bishnoi.
In the very next over of Marcus Stoinis, Bishnoi, guarding the cover, dropped a sitter off McGurk, who went on to smash his maiden IPL half-century in 31 deliveries. Krunal Pandya bowling the 13th over of the innings was taken apart by McGurk, who smashed a hat-trick of sixes to reach fifty.
McGurk became the third-youngster overseas batter after Sam Curran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz to smash a half-century in the IPL.
It was the most expensive over of the inning by Pandya as both the batters raised the half-century of their stand in just 32 deliveries to take the visitors closer to victory.
A sliced drive off Naveen-ul-Haq ended up in the hands of a deep third, and Fraser-McGurk walked off with 55 from 35 from his debut IPL innings but the knock made the chase pretty comfortable for DC. Both the batters added 77 runs off 46 deliveries for the third wicket.
Ravi Bishnoi in his last over of the spell cleaned up Pant of a googly, who scored 41 off 24 deliveries.
With the last four overs left in the match, Delhi needed 18 runs for the victory and Tristan Stubbs, with a maximum over deep midwicket of Arshad Khan, claimed victory for Delhi Capitals by six wickets with eleven balls remaining. For host Lucknow, Ravi Bishnoi claimed 2 for 25 and Naveen-ul-Haq claimed a wicket giving away 24 runs.
Brief score:
Lucknow Super Giants 167/7 in 20 overs (Ayush Badoni 55 not out, KL Rahul 39; Kuldeep Yadav 3-20, Khaleel Ahmed 2-41) lost to Delhi Capitals 170/4 in 18.1 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 55, Rishabh Pant 41; Ravi Bishnoi 2-25, Naveen-ul-Haq 1-24) by six wickets
