Fraser-mcgurk and Rasikh propel Delhi to win over Mumbai, Rajasthan rout Lucknow
NEW DELHI: In what was a hat-trick of run-fests at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2024, opener Jake Fraser-mcgurk continued his good showing by slamming a sensational 84 while Rasikh Salam shone with 3-34 in propelling Delhi Capitals to a 10run win against Mumbai Indians here on Saturday.
Under delhi’ s blazing sun, fr a se rm cg urk excelled by hitting eleven fours and six sixes at a strike-rate of 311.11 in his 27-ball knock, including getting his fifty in 15 balls. Supporting him was Tristan Stubbs, who struck six fours and two sixes in his 25-ball 48 not out at the back end of the innings.
Abishek Porel, Shai Hope and captain Rishabh Pant chipped in with sizeable contributions as DC hit 17 maximums in what is also their highest score ever in the IPL.
In reply, Rasikh’s 3-34 and Mukesh Kumar’s 3-54, along with Khaleel Ahmed’s 2-45 restricted Mumbai to 247/9 in 20 overs, securing a narrow win for DC. Tilak Varma (63), Hardik Pandya (46) and Tim David (37) gave Mumbai Indians hope of chasing down the target. But in the end, their efforts were not enough.
With Saturday’s win, DC got their fifth victory in the competition and have jumped ahead of defending champions Chennai Super Kings to now be in fifth place in the points table with 10 points from as many games, while MI are stuck in ninth place.
Fraser-mcgurk began by whipping off his wrists to take a four off Luke Wood in the gap between mid-wicket and mid-on. With his still frame and beautiful wristwork, Fraser-mcgurk smashed two more fours and a six to take 19 runs off the opening over.
He welcomed Bumrah by dispatching his slower ball over long-on for six and drilled a drive on the free-hit ball for four. Fraser-mcgurk ended the over by swiping Bumrah for a four to take 18 runs off the second over.
He would smack nu wan thu shara for three fours, before getting his fifty in 15 balls with a slog-sweep off Piyush Chawla over deep mid-wicket. After hitting Chawla for another four, Fraser-mcgurk hit Hardik Pandya for two fours and as many sixes, before Bumrah conceded only three runs in the last over of Power-play as DC signed off from the phase at 92/0.
H ar di kw as carted for runs again as fraser-m cg urk and Porel struck four and two sixes collectively in the seventh over to bring up DC’S hundred. Frasermcgurk’s fun came to an end when he was cramped for room on a heave against Chawla and gave a simple catch to mid-wicket, falling for 27-ball 84.
After Porel was stumped off Nabi in the tenth over, MI felt they would become successful in applying brakes on DC’S innings. But Shai Hope had other ideas, smacking five delightful sixes before flicking straight to deep mid-wicket off Luke Wood to fall for a 17-ball 41.
Meanwhile, in the evening match in Lucknow, the hosts posted 196-5 courtesy a 76 by skipper KL Rahul and his 115 run stand with Deepak Hooda, who made 50.
Lucknow lost two early wickets after New Zealand’s left-arm quick Trent Boult bowled Quinton de Kock for eight and Sandeep Sharma bowled Marcus Stoinis for a duck.
Rahul and Hooda steadied the innings and then hit back but the effort was not enough as Dhruv Jurel, who hit 52, and Samson steered table-toppers Rajasthan home with one over to spare for their eighth win in nine matches. Top four teams will qualify for the play-offs.
Earlier, Rahul got his third half-century while Deepak Hooda got his first half-century in 19-odd matches.
Rahul scooped, drove, pulled and swept superb ly to hammer a brilliant 76 off 48 balls, hitting eight fours and two sixes -- the only two sixes of the innings a far cry compared to the last couple of matches in which teams hit maximums in double figures.
After a cautious start, Rahul opened up by hitting Boult for a four off an in-swinging yorker and was lucky to survive a ball from Ashwin that darted in, just managing to sweep it away to the boundary.
Rahul continued to flourish, hitting back-to-back boundaries off Yuzvendra Chahal in the seventh over -- caressing a half-volley through covers and following it up with a sweep behind square and the spinner strayed to left.