Sydney, May 23: A successor waiting in the sidelines for David Warner. That may be the right manner to describe Australian youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has taken cricket lovers by surprise with his merciless big hitting skills in Indian Premier League 2024. Coincidentally, both Aussies were in Delhi Capitals team.
The DC management might have given Fraser-McGurk more opportunities towards the second half of the IPL 2024, but for Australia men's team, veteran Warner, the big match superhero still remains the first preference for ICC Men's T29 World Cup 2024.
Well, Fraser-McGurk has been named as a travelling reserve, while Warner is in the 15-men T20 World Cup squad.
However, Warner believes young Fraser-McGurk is someone who asks a lot of questions and loves the game, which keeps him in good stead.
The duo will be united when Australia embark on their Men’s T20 World Cup journey – Warner in 15-member squad, while Fraser-McGurk is a travelling reserve.
Warner and Fraser-McGurk spent time in the Delhi Capitals camp in IPL 2024, where the youngster caught everyone’s eye by smashing 330 runs at a strike rate of 234.04, including two fifties coming in 15 balls each, after being drafted in as a replacement for Lungi Ngidi.
"It can be challenging and extremely tiring. We spoke about it in India, how to manage these things going forward. Whether to have a sibling, a friend, a parent or someone else there to break up the cycle when you’re there, so you’ve got a piece of home with you. Because it is very, very hard to do all this.
"And when you’ve got a group of ... 95 per cent of our team are pretty much married with kids, coming in as a young guy can be challenging. You are potentially locked in your room, doing nothing. Fortunately, we’ll be in the Caribbean, so you can go outside and have a nice swim and things like that.
"But the experience for him will be great and being around the guys and the group where potentially I feel like he’ll probably go on that England tour in late August. As a young kid, he understands what the game’s about, what it’s like to be around the group as a team player. He asks a lot of questions and he loves the game, which is great," Warner was quoted as saying by ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’.
Warner will be ending his international career at the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup, where he doesn’t expect tall scores, something which has been in trend during IPL 2024, mainly due to the impact player rule.
Warner, a member of Australia’s runners-up finish in the 2010 Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies, also noted sea breezes in venues like Barbados and St Lucia will have a big say in dictating the proceedings during the showpiece event.
"Barbados and St Lucia have this big cross breeze across the ground, so there’s a lot of tactical stuff to it as well. The wickets can also be low and slower, so you might not see 200-plus scores.
"People talk about the IPL, but you’ve got an impact player there. So you take that out of the equation. When you’re up the top of the order you try to get a good start but if you lose early wickets you’ve got to play what’s in front of you and adapt," he said.
Warner signed off by hoping opener Travis Head can carry his swashbuckling IPL form for Sunrisers Hyderabad to World Cup. "Hopefully he doesn’t waste too many more runs over there and can save some for us. Hopefully he can finish his tournament off well there and bring some of that success to our team."
Fraser-McGurk in all probability will succeed Warner as the opening batter in the shorter formats for Australia after the ICC Men's World Cup 2024. Considering that, Warner appreciating the youngster is really very impressive and healthy for Australian cricket. (With IANS support)
