CAPITALS CRUISE TO WIN
Fraser-mcgurk, Kuldeep and Pant star against Super Giants
Lucknow, India - Delhi Capitals ended Lucknow Super Giants’ stranglehold on 160-plus defences and lifted themselves off the bottom of the IPL 2024 table with a six-wicket win in Lucknow on Friday. Kuldeep Yadav provided the inspiration on his return from injury before a sparkling half-century on IPL debut from Australia’s Jake Fraser-mcgurk saw them reel in their target with 11 balls to spare.
After choosing to bat, LSG produced a stuttering innings that still finished above the 160mark - from which they had never lost when batting first. KL Rahul gave them a fast start with 39 off 22 before Kuldeep ripped out the guts of their line-up in the space of his first nine balls. Rahul’s dismissal by Kuldeep left LSG 77 for 5 and their position got worse before it got better.
With the score 94 for 7 after 13 overs, DC appeared to be on course for a walkover. But Ayush Badoni’s 31-ball fifty and an unbroken stand of 73 with Arshad Khan - an IPL record for the eighth wicket - at least gave LSG’S vaunted spin attack something to bowl at.
DC, on a run of four defeats in five, might have wondered if their chance had gone. Prithvi Shaw gave the chase a punchy start to settle some of the nerves and then it was over to FraserMcgurk, the 22-year-old from Melbourne, to provide the fireworks. His first scoring shot was a wallop for six over deep mid
After choosing to bat, LSG produced a stuttering innings that still finished above the 160mark - from which they had never lost when batting first
wicket and he cleared the ropes four more times to raise his halfcentury from 31 balls. He and Rishabh Pant departed after a stand of 77 off 46 but by then DC were well on track.
Fast rising Fraser-mcgurk
It is only six months since Fraser-mcgurk grabbed headlines worldwide by breaking AB de Villiers’ record for the fastest List A hundred when he reached the mark off just 29 balls while batting for South Australia. Remarkably, that was his first century in professional cricket, but he enjoyed a breakthrough summer that culminated in him being capped during Australia’s ODI series against West Indies. He hit his third ball on debut for four, his fourth for six, and then was out to his fifth. Coming in at No. 3 in Lucknow, following the dismissal of David Warner by Yash Thakur, he stayed true to first principles. His second ball was swatted insouciantly off the front foot over midwicket - a shot his DC coach, Ricky Ponting, would doubtless have enjoyed - and he then launched an even bigger hit over wide long-on from his fifth.
Another slash for four took him to 16 off seven (with three scoring shots) before the arrival of the LSG spinners to present a new challenge.
A slowdown duly followed, with nine runs coming from his next 16 balls. But just when the game appeared to be back in the balance, Fraser-mcgurk let loose against Krunal Pandya.
Amid Capitals’ struggles, Pant has carried a particularly heavy burden: captain, wicketkeeper and star batter, and all this after more than a year out of the game after a car crash. His anguished chat with umpire Rohan Pandit during the LSG innings, having unsuccessfully tried to review a wide - Pant seeming to say he hadn’t reviewed it in the first place - summed up how things have been going.