New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI) In the 2022-23 season, Cricket Victoria downgraded's Jake Fraser-McGurk contract to the level of a rookie, leaving the hard-hitting batter with no option but to shift to South Australia for greener pastures.
Consistency indeed was an issue for him during that time. The uncluttered approach with which he has mesmerised everyone in the ongoing IPL was nowhere.
The demotion hit him hard and he began to work on his game.
Cut to 2024, a call from Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting had 22-year-old Fraser-McGurk rushing to India and rest as they say is history.
He has already smashed 22 sixes and an equal number of boundaries in five games since his arrival as Harry Brook's replacement.
On Saturday afternoon, he owned Kotla by smashing Jasprit Bumrah's opening over in a manner that the famed Indian slinger would have hardly imagined.
The man, who owns the world record of fastest List A hundred (off 29 balls in Marsh Cup) has now done enough that Delhi Capitals have been forced to drop David Warner on pretext of a hand injury.
Yes, Warner had injury but he is doing fine and played against Sunrisers. But DC management has understood that it difficult to fit both Warner and Fraser-McGurk in the playing XI.
For Fraser-McGurk, the 27-ball-84 felt surreal as watching Bumrah rattle stumps on television is so different from carting him all over the park. At times, truth is stranger than fiction.
"It was pretty nervous. I had looked at his (Bumrah's) footage all day. But in the game everything goes out of the window and you just have to see the ball. It is good to test yourself against the best bowler in the world," Fraser-McGurk said while collecting his man of the match award.
Having already encountered highs and lows in his short career, he felt that these innings are good for his career.
"You have to ride the waves of highs and lows. These innings are good for my confidence and for my team."
He had watched a lot of IPL but only after being a part of it did he know that what kind of competition exists.
"From outside you don't know the level of the competition, this is such a higher level than the other leagues and it is amazing to be a part of it," he said.
Life for Fraser-McGurk is moving at an even quicker pace than his three fifties at the IPL and two things, one can rest assured will happen.
He will be part of the Australian T20 squad as he has got a hang of playing spinners which will be important in the West Indies.
Secondly, Delhi Capitals will for sure retain him along with Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav before next year's mega IPL auctions.