Injured Warner, Ishant face another week on the sidelines

Warner was hit on the finger while attempting a lap shot against Lucknow Super Giants on April 12. He missed DC’s next match, against Gujarat Titans, but played against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 20, where he was out for 1.

Since then, he has missed two more games, including the one against MI. Meanwhile, Ishant is recovering from back spasms.

“I think Warner will take one more week [to be fully fit] and so will Ishant,” Amre said. “Ishant had back spasms, which happened on the field two games ago. Warner had a hand injury, which is yet to heal. He had an MRI, which showed the injury for which he needed rest for two to three weeks. I feel they will be ready for selection when we return to Delhi.”

DC’s next match is against Kolkata Knight Riders, in Kolkata, on April 29 before they return home to play against Rajasthan Royals on May 7.

Against MI, Prithvi Shaw also sat out with illness. “Prithvi was not feeling well when we reached the ground,” Amre said. “So we decided that if he was not 100% fit, we would go with [Abishek] Porel.”

Fraser-McGurk has that X-factor – Amre

DC’s win against MI was orchestrated by Jake Fraser-McGurk‘s 84 off 27 balls, which propelled them to 257 for 4. Fraser-McGurk was not part of the original squad but once Lungi Ngidi was ruled out of the tournament, DC drafted him in as a replacement player.

“He played three games for Dubai Capitals [in the ILT20] and our scouting team was very keen to have him [for the IPL],” Amre said. “Once we got an opportunity to have a replacement, even though we had a choice between a couple of players, we picked him.

“He played just three innings [in the ILT20] before leaving to play for Australia but even in that, he played a couple of match-winning innings. Those knocks were something special. Given he is a young, exciting cricketer, we decided to back him.”

Fraser-McGurk didn’t play the first five games of the season for DC, but since then has smashed 247 runs in five innings, with three half-centuries and at a strike rate of 237.50.

“Yes, he had to wait for four-five games before getting a chance,” Amre said. “But even when we were watching him in the nets, he had something different, that X-factor. Even today, he just opened up the game and because of his innings we were 92 for no loss after six overs.

“He is a natural. If you see his set-up, he believes in a stable base. And he has excellent hand speed. And when you are batting in the powerplay, you have only one fielder on the leg side. So that’s a good area to hit; even a mis-hit can get you a boundary.

“But if you see in this game, he played smart cricket. When the bowlers bowled wide, he hit a couple of sixes on the off side also. So he has that ability too, and his shot selection is very good.”