Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul has said Australia's rising sensation Jake Frazer-McGurk, who made his debut for Delhi Capitals (DC), surprised us with his power-hitting skills, adding that their pacer Mayank Yadav might need some more time to recover from a lower-abdomen niggle.
A half-century from Fraser-McGurk helped DC successfully chase a 167-run target against LSG with 11 balls to spare for a loss of just four wickets. He amassed 55 off 35 balls in his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) innings and forged a crucial 77-run partnership with skipper Rishabh Pant (41) on Friday.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, KL Rahul said, "McGurk, the new guys when they come in, was very unknown. We've watched a lot of videos of him but he hit the ball really well, credit to him."
Giving an update on Yadav, whose sheer pace has made many veteran batters in IPL 2024 struggle, Rahul said, "Mayank is not too bad; he looks good, feeling good but we also want to make sure we don't rush him back in too early."
"He's young, we need to protect his body. He's itching to go, we just have to pull him back a little, maybe a couple of more games, before he comes back," added Rahul.
The home team skipper, who scored 39 off 22 balls, admitted that his team fell a good 20 runs short. "We were 15-20 short, should've capitalised to get 180. There was a bit of help for seamers, odd-ball was keeping low and Kuldeep (Yadav) put the brakes on our batting group. We fought till the end."
Kuldeep Yadav, who was returning to the playing XI after sitting out for three matches due to a niggle, emerged as the most impactful bowler, claiming wickets of Rahul, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and southpaw Nicholas Pooran and conceded only 21 runs in his four-over spell.
"We were in the game till the 10th over, then a dropped catch and then Rishabh-McGurk took it away from us. In hindsight, can wonder if we could've done something differently (with Nicholas Pooran's batting position)," said Rahul.
The debutant Frazer-McGurk said that he was getting frustrated sitting on the bench and he enjoyed his batting on Friday. "Spent five-six games on the sidelines itching to get out there. Was just more about trying not to swing too hard and lose shape. That's what I've done over the last 12 months. I'm so happy to be here, a different world in terms of cricket. Never seen anything like it, to be able to savour eight weeks, hopefully more, is amazing," added the Australian.
Kuldeep, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, said he had got injured in the first IPL outing and still played the second game, which aggravated things and he had to sit out for the next three games.
"Wasn't fit for a couple of games, got injured in the first game. Was difficult to see the team struggle in the middle overs. (Today) the execution was right. I was clear with my plan, length matters a lot as a spinner," said Kuldeep.
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