Delhi Capitals' opener Jake Fraser-McGruk took on the Mumbai Indians' bowling attack right from the word go and hardly looked in trouble as he smashed 11 fours and 6 sixes in his 27-ball stay that never allowed the visitors to come back in the IPL match at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
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Fraser-McGurk's 84 runs, scored at a strike rate of 311.11, included 80 runs scored off boundaries alone, which laid the foundation of Delhi's best ever IPL total of 257 for 4.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya termed the knock as one showing the "fearlessness of youth".
"It was quite amazing the way he (Fraser-McGurk) batted. He took calculated risks, played the field really well. It shows the fearlessness of youth," said Pandya, who scored 46 off 24 balls, at the post-match presentation.
Pandya adde3d 71 runs for the fourth wicket in quick time with MI's top scorer Tilak Varma (63 off 32 balls) after Delhi bowlers had reduced them to 65 for 3 inside the Powerplay.
The MI captain hinted that they lacked "game-awareness" during their stiff run-chase, which ended 10 runs short at 247 for 9.
"Because of the kind of games and how the bowlers are under pressure, we backed ourselves to do it (chase successfully). If I had to pick something out, we could have taken a couple of more chances in the middle overs. The left-handers could have probably gone after Axar (Patel) a little bit. It’s something we missed out in terms of game-awareness," added Pandya.
With their sixth defeat in nine matches, Mumbai Indians' chances of reaching the playoffs are virtually over, while Delhi Capitals will be breathing much easy having climbed up to the fifth position with five wins in 10 matches.
