How Jake Fraser-McGurk is making a difference one leg-side hit at a time

That Jake Fraser-McGurk prefers the leg-side boundary should be known to the followers of cricket by now.

His 38-ball 125 for South Australia against Tasmania, a knock in which he reached three-figures off only 29 balls to go past AB de Villiers' fastest ton record in List-A cricket, included as many as 13 sixes to go with 10 fours, and a large portion of them were struck to the leg-side fence.

When asked if he had played such an innings before, "maybe in a video game" was how Fraser-McGurk put it. But for those who missed that innings, this IPL has shown plenty of glimpses from that knock, including his latest against Mumbai Indians when he struck a belligerent 27-ball 84, with 6 sixes and 11 fours.

Among all fifty-plus scores in this IPL so far -- there have been 90 (at the end of Match #44 of IPL 2024) -- Fraser-McGurk is the only one to have got a half-century at a strike rate of over 300. And he has done it twice: an 18-ball 65 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at an SR of 361.11, and his knock against MI which came at 311.11. Tristan Stubbs's 71 not out off 25 at a strike rate of 284, which incidentally came against MI as well, is the third best in this edition.

Since his arrival at the IPL, Fraser-McGurk has struck 22 maximums, which is the second most for the Capitals this season after Rishabh Pant's 23, although he has played half the number of games compared to his skipper. Of those, close to 65 percent have been over the legside fence. He's also scored 22 fours, which are better spread around the field compared to his six-hitting.

The wristy, nonchalant flicks over midwicket sailing over the ropes have been a regular feature in Fraser-McGurk's outings, as have been his powerful pulls. Anything pitched on middle and leg, it's over the fence more often than not. He can also use his wrists to pick up deliveries pitched on off or slightly outside off to the leg-side, and he's equally adept at putting away deliveries to the off side as well if there's enough room. The margin for error against McGurk is minimum, as the MI bowlers found out.

Not often do you see a bowler of the caliber of Jasprit Bumrah be greeted into the attack with a six, but that's what happened in Delhi as the 22-year old didn't care about the credentials of the opposition. He scored a total of 15 runs off MI's premier bowler off just four deliveries, and treated the other bowlers with equal disdain. Luke Wood ended up conceding 19 off 6, Nuwan Thushara went for 12 off 4, while Piyush Chawla was also struck for 12 runs off 6 deliveries.

The most expensive of the lot proved to be Hardik Pandya who went for 26 runs off 7 deliveries, including three sixes - two of which were hit to the leg-side. "It was quite amazing the way he batted. He played very calculated shots. It was a smart innings. He uses the field very well; he was trying to chip the ball if it wasn't in his arc," Pandya told the broadcasters after the game, praising Fraser-McGurk's dazzling batting display.

Pravin Amre, DC's assistant coach, spoke about Fraser-McGurk's legside domination. "He is a natural. If you see his set-up, he believes in a stable base. And he has excellent hand speed. And when you are batting in the powerplay, you have only one fielder on the leg-side. So that's a good area to hit; even a mis-hit can get you a boundary," Amre says, but is quick to add, "If you see in this game, he played smart cricket. When the bowlers bowled wide, he hit a couple of sixes on the off side also. So he has that ability too, and his shot selection is very good."

Batting has been in video game mode in this IPL, what with flat pitches, unhelpful conditions, a leather ball that doesn't do much, and the Impact Player lengthening the batting order and effectively providing an extra life in video game parlance. Teams have gone hard in all phases of an innings and the Capitals aren't any different from other teams, with Fraser-McGurk consistently providing them blitzy starts. But it wasn't the case when the season started for DC.

It was only a couple of weeks before the tournament started that the Capitals roped Fraser-McGurk into the setup, bringing him in as a replacement for the injured Lungi Ngidi. He did not feature for the Capitals in their first five matches, four of which they lost. In those games, the highest DC posted in the powerplay was 62/0. This came against Chennai Super Kings, the team whom DC managed to defeat in Vizag. David Warner struck a half-century in that game while Prithvi Shaw scored 43, setting the platform for a total of 191 which proved sufficient. But DC's average powerplay score in the first five matches was 52.6, not really groundbreaking in an IPL where batting has reached lofty heights.

Since McGurk's arrival, their average powerplay score in the last five games has been 70.6, and four of the matches have resulted in wins for the Capitals, who now find themselves in the top five in the points table, not something many would have foreseen considering their position after their first five matches.

DC's powerplay scores in IPL 2024

Before Fraser-McGurk

With Fraser-McGurk

How did Fraser-McGurk get into the DC scheme of things? Amre explains: "He played three games for Dubai Capitals (in ILT20) and our scouting team was very keen to have him (in the DC team for IPL). Once we got an opportunity to have a replacement, even though we had a choice between a couple of players, we picked him. He played just three innings (for Dubai Capitals) before leaving to play for Australia but even in that, he played a couple of match-winning innings. Those knocks were something special. Given he is a young, exciting cricketer, we decided to back him."

Fraser-McGurk started at No.3 with Warner in the side but has been opening in the last few matches as the veteran left-hander is recovering from an injury. With the T20 World Cup up next, Fraser-McGurk's emergence, coinciding with Warner's lean patch in the IPL, will have given the Australian selectors something to think about.

Fraser-McGurk vs Warner in T20 cricket (since the end of IPL 2023)

"It's exciting to see," says Australia's middle-order batter Tim David about the rise of Fraser-McGurk, having witnessed his demolition act as part of the MI team. "As a young Aussie guy, as someone who is playing in the Australian team, it's exciting to see someone who is not in the side (Australia T20 team) playing brilliant cricket. There's nothing really more you can say than that. The amount of boundaries he is hitting - it feels like he's hitting a boundary every ball - clean striking, so it's awesome to see and hopefully if he can keep those innings up, it'll be awesome."

Fraser-McGurk played a couple of 50-over matches for Australia in the series against West Indies earlier this year, showcasing his capabilities with an 18-ball 41 in the third ODI. By evidence of what has happened so far in the IPL, Fraser-McGurk has taken a sledgehammer to the selectors' doors. And the Capitals will be only too happy that he shatters it down to pieces heading close to the business end of the IPL.