Fraser-McGurk hits half ton on debut as Delhi beats Lucknow

LUCKNOW, India, April 13, (AP): Australian batter Jake Fraser-McGurk scored a half century on his IPL debut as Delhi Capitals beat Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets with 11 balls remaining.

The 22-year old Fraser-McGurk smacked 55 runs off only 35 balls, including five sixes, as Delhi scored 170-4 in 18.1 overs in reply to Lucknow’s 167-7.

Delhi wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav returned from injury to pick up 3-20 in four overs and helped to restrict the hosts to a sub-par total.

Opting to bat first on a spin-friendly wicket, Lucknow made a decent start with openers Quinton de Kock (19) and skipper Lokesh Rahul putting on 28 runs off 17 balls.

CRICKET

Rahul hit 39 off 22, with five fours and one six, even as Lucknow started to lose wickets regularly at the other end.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed provided a double breakthrough by trapping both de Kock and Devdutt Padikkal (3) leg before wicket.

Yadav ran through Lucknow’s middle order. He had Marcus Stoinis caught for eight, and bowled Nicholas Pooran for a golden duck but missed his chance of a hat trick. Lucknow was down to 77-5 in 9.3 overs after Rahul was caught behind off Yadav.

Impact substitute Deepak Hooda fell for 10, while Krunal Pandya (3) couldn’t make much impact either.

Ayush Badoni came to the rescue with a timely 55 not out off 35 balls. He hit five fours and one six and helped his team to an improbable 160-plus total.

In reply, Delhi lost opener David Warner when pacer Yash Thakur bowled the Australian for eight runs.

Prithvi Shaw (32) and Fraser-McGurk shared 39 runs for the second wicket. Shaw was out to leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2-25) but Fraser-McGurk kept Delhi moving along. The highlight came in the 13th over when he smacked Pandya for three successive sixes. His half-century came off 31 balls.