Jake Fraser-McGurk: A star is born

Jake Fraser-McGurk scored just a solitary half-century for Australia in four innings in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup before he was sent back home after being scratched on the face by a monkey at a nature reserve. Although he didn't have a particularly great campaign, Fraser-McGurk was tipped to be a future star by fast bowler turned renowned TV commentator Ian Bishop.

Obviously, the talent was there. But he struggled big time for consistency. He showed glimpses of his talent quite early in his career, hitting half-centuries on both his first-class and List A debuts. But diminished returns with the bat saw him lose his place in the state side. 

His contract with the Victoria Cricket was downgraded to the level of a rookie during the 2022-23 season. The promising career was going absolutely nowhere. For better opportunities, Fraser-McGurk made a switch to South Australia and refined his technique to transform himself into the fearsome ball-striker that he is now.

The right-hander finally made a splash in October last year and the world was forced to take notice of him. Going into a Marsh Cup game against Tasmania with only one List A fifty to his name, Fraser-McGurk smashed his way to an unprecedented 29-ball hundred.

He broke AB de Villiers' record (30 balls) to become the fastest centurion in List A cricket. As of now, it is also the quickest ton by anyone in limited-overs cricket.

But he still had a point to prove. He had been part of the Melbourne Renegades team in the Big Bash League (BBL) but his T20 numbers at that point were outright poor - average of 13.3 and strike-rate of 103.33.

More confident in his hitting abilities now, Fraser-McGurk had a breakthrough BBL 2023-24 season. He scored 257 runs at an average of 32.1 and a strike-rate of 158.6 and hit more sixes (18) than fours (17) in the tournament. 

"No one in Australia is better to watch than Fraser-McGurk. Easily the most talented young batter in the country. His potential doesn't actually have a ceiling," his mentor and friend Glenn Maxwell wrote on X during the BBL.

But no one showed interest in the Australian dasher in the auction ahead of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

As David Warner bade adieu to ODI cricket, Australia, in search of an opening batter to partner Travis Head, handed a debut to Fraser-McGurk. In his maiden international innings, he smashed West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph for a four and a six before getting out in the first over itself. But he made his intentions clear. This was the way he was going to play his cricket.

A couple of days later, he blasted five fours and three maximums in his 18-ball-41 to help Australia chase 87 in 6.5 overs and power Australia to a record ODI victory in Canberra. 

Many likened his free-flowing style of playing to the approach of a young David Warner. "It was the same feeling you got when Warner debuted against South Africa [in 2009] at the MCG," Kerry O'Keefe said on air during that ODI against the West Indies.

Cut to April 2024, Jake Fraser-McGurk is an absolute star and a crowd favourite in the IPL, the world's most cash-rich T20 tournament. He was roped in as a replacement player at the Delhi Capitals, a team coached by Ricky Ponting, who had praised Fraser-McGurk before.

"I was on record at the start of the summer saying I think he's someone that can be well and truly fast-tracked through the Australian system. Because the natural talent that he's got reminds me a bit of David Warner's introduction into Australian cricket," said Ponting last year.

On his IPL debut, Fraser-McGurk blazed his way to a stroke-filled 35-ball-55 and helped Delhi Capitals win against Lucknow Super Giants. He slowed down after the powerplay but again managed to gain some momentum, purely because of his boundary-hitting ability.

Then in a span of a week, Fraser-McGurk zoomed to two 15-ball half-centuries and him bringing out the big bat swing and clearing the boundaries with ease became a common sight. 

He made a belligerent 65 off 18 against Sunrisers Hyderabad last week but on Saturday, it was a never-seen-before onslaught.

Mumbai Indians had a varied bowling attack consisting of a left-arm swing bowler, a right-arm slinger, a leg-spinner, an off-break bowler and one of the world's best in Jasprit Bumrah. 

He welcomed Bumrah with an audacious six and a four down the ground, much to the bewilderment of the tournament's best bowler by a mile. Fraser-McGurk finished that over with another boundary, making it the most expensive over (18 runs) bowled by Bumrah in the current edition of the IPL. The right-hander had raced to 34 off 10 with a strike-rate of a whooping 340.

Fraser-McGurk (84 off 27) finished with a strike-rate of 311.11, the highest by anyone in an innings lasting 27 or more balls in the history of the IPL.

The dasher now has 247 runs at an average of 49.4 and a strike-rate of 237.5 in the IPL 2024, comfortably the highest with a minimum of 100 runs.

He has hit a staggering 22 sixes in just five innings and only Rishabh Pant has hit more (23) for Delhi in the tournament. Pant, though, has played five more innings than Fraser-McGurk. 

It's all about killing the game in the powerplay itself for him and the numbers also suggest that. No one has a higher powerplay strike-rate than Fraser-McGurk's 265.2, much higher than the second-place Abhishek Sharma (233.7). 

"That's my role, go out there and score as many as I can [in the powerplay] and get the team off to a nice start," he said after his match-winning knock on Saturday. 

He is no longer a left-field top-order option in Australia's squad for the T20 World Cup. "Fraser-McGurk is putting Warner's Australia and Delhi spots under threat," former New Zealand cricketer and now commentator Simon Doull told Cricbuzz. 

But the World Cup spot is "not on the forefront of the mind" for Fraser-McGurk and he is now more focused on learning from his childhood idol Warner. "Having him [Warner] here and knowing him quite well, we have got a nice connection, got a beautiful friendship," he told AFP.

Fraser-McGurk was busy clicking photographs of fans with Warner at a golf course in Jaipur not long ago. Now an overnight sensation in India, it's not sure whether he can move that freely in a public place. With the amount of  talent he has, it was a matter of time to gain this stardom with the right opportunity. Jake Fraser-McGurk has grabbed it with both hands and even before David Warner's international farewell, Australia have probably found the ready-made replacement for him.