Jake Fraser-McGurk’s manager told Delhi Capitals (DC) around 6 p.m. Australia time on Wednesday that the young right-handed opener would not be going back to India for the team’s remaining games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which starts again on May 17. DC has now signed Bangladesh’s left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman. On his best days, Rahman can confuse hitters with his cutters and slower balls. As far as I know, most Australian cricket players who played outside of Australia, especially those who played for the DC and Punjab Kings (PBKS), were scared and worried about their lives after the game was called off in Dharamshala last week.
“At that time, Jake was more scared than most foreign players in Dharamshala.” He is the youngest overseas player in the DC setup, so his choice to drop out of the IPL 2025 doesn’t come as a surprise. In addition, he was feeling quite uncomfortable the day before the game in Dharamshala. After we were evacuated, we made the trip back to Delhi with other people.
Overall, he wasn’t having a good time, and I’m glad I was there to help him through it all. It was hard enough for me, a 50-year-old man who has traveled a lot, let alone a little kid. Shannon Young, Fraser-McGurk’s childhood coach, told IANS on Wednesday, “I was there to help a player who is more like a son to me than a cricketer.” Young was in Dharamshala at the time.
This news agency also knows that some of the international players on both teams, mostly from Australia, were worried about playing in Dharamshala on May 8 because of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, but the tournament officials persuaded them to go ahead with the game.
But Pakistani drone and air strikes knocked out power in Jammu, Udhampur, and Pathankot, which are all less than 250 km from Dharamshala. The match was called off after only 10.1 overs, and the players went back to their homes while being closely watched.
Everyone involved with the IPL was sent to New Delhi on cars that took them to Jalandhar. On Friday night, a special train called “Vande Bharat” brought them to India’s capital city. Young, who lives in Melbourne and trains Netherlands captain Scott Edwards, gave more reasons for why overseas players and coaches are still very afraid and don’t want to be back in India so soon for the rest of IPL 2025.
“The management and staff of Delhi Capitals showed a lot of care and concern for our safety right after what happened in Dharamshala.” During those scary and unclear times, they were truly amazing.
“But I have to tell you that open warfare about 80 km from where we were in Dharamshala is such a strange idea to people from other countries, even Australians.” For some Indians, 60–80 kms is a long way away, but here in Australia, it only takes 45 minutes to go 60 kms, so it’s way too close for comfort.
IANS also knows that Anton Roux, who is DC’s batting coach, wasn’t sure if he wanted to come back to India if the league started up again. But on Wednesday, Roux wrote on Instagram that he was on his way back to India to join DC, one of the seven teams competing for the IPL 2025 playoffs.
IPL sources also told IANS that left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc might not be able to play in DC’s final games. Faf du Plessis and Tristan Stubbs’ chances of returning to the team are also 50/50. There is still no word on which of PBKS’s foreign players will be back for IPL 2025. They have been given a new home base in Jaipur.
