Jake Fraser McGurk smashes fastest fifty for Delhi Capitals in IPL history

New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): Australian and Delhi Capitals (DC) batter Jake Fraser McGurk continued to light up the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, smashing the fastest half-century for the franchise in tournament history. McGurk, the rising Aussie batting sensation with the fastest List-A century in just 29 balls, accomplished this feat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at his side's home arena of Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

In the game, McGurk smashed 65 in 18 balls, with five fours and seven sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 361.11.

A key highlight of his knock saw him take down spinner Washington Sundar with three fours and three sixes in the third over. This is the fastest fifty for DC in IPL history, overtaking Chris Morris's 17 ball half-century in 2016 against the Gujarat Lions. This is also the joint-third fastest IPL fifty.

The fastest-ever fifty in IPL history is owned by Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal, who smashed a 13-ball fifty against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last year. McGurk's fifty is the fastest of this season. In three IPL matches so far, McGurk has scored 140 runs at an average of 46.66 and a strike rate of 222.22. His best score is 65. He scored a knock of 55 against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in his IPL debut.

Coming to the match, SRH was put on field first by DC. Travis Head (89 in 32 balls, with 11 fours and six sixes) and Abhishek Sharma (46 in 12 balls, with two fours and six sixes) put on an explosive stand of 131 runs in 6.2 overs. Later, contributions from Shahbaz Ahmed (59* in 29 balls, with two fours and five sixes) and Nitish Kumar (37 in 27 balls, with two fours and two sixes) came in handy to take SRH to 266/7 in their 20 overs.

Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for DC with 4/55. Mukesh Kumar and Axar Patel also got a six.

DC needs 267 runs to win. (ANI)