Newly-appointed Australian T20I captain Mitch Marsh said hard-hitting batter Jake Fraser-McGurk has a bright international future ahead, although he has not been selected for next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Notably, the 2021 T20 World Cup champions revealed their squad for the mega event on Wednesday where Fraser-McGurk and former skipper Steve Smith failed to get a place in the 15-player group.

Jake Fraser-McGurk has been in sublime form

However, Fraser-McGurk has been in sublime form for the Delhi Capitals in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and many thought that he could go to West Indies and USA next month for the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup as well. And while Marsh has been impressed with Fraser-McGurk at the international level and Delhi, the Australia captain also suggested veteran openers Travis Head and David Warner have the runs on the board to play at the top of the batting order.

“Jakey is an outstanding talent,” Marsh said on Australian radio station SEN. “I think you know the way he’s taking on the IPL, he’s taken it by storm, they’re all loving him, and certainly, the Delhi crew are enjoying his company and enjoying what he brings to the team and there’s no doubt that he’s going to have a huge future, wherever he plays.”

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“But we feel like we’ve got all bases covered within our team. Heady and David Warner have been fantastic for us, not only for a long period of time but over the last 18 months building towards this (T20) World Cup. We’re really comfortable that we’ve got the right 15, to hopefully take us deep into the (T20) World Cup,” he further added.

“He’s come along pretty quickly” – Mitch Marsh on Jake Fraser-McGurk

However, Fraser-McGurk has three fifties for Delhi already this IPL and he has been batting at a strike-rate of 233.33 which is superior to every other batter in the tournament to have scored more than 60 runs as well. More than half of his 259 runs at the tournament have come from sixes, with the talented batter having cleared the rope 23 times from six innings for Delhi and placed sixth overall for most sixes as well.

“He’s come along pretty quickly. There’s been a huge amount of talent that’s been identified from a young age,” Marsh concluded. “We saw a glimpse of it throughout the (domestic) Big Bash this year and you know that the IPL is a tough tournament. You can’t take a backward step and that’s certainly the way he plays his cricket and he’s got an exciting future.”

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa