The first night of the IPL auction saw several stars, including Australia’s Jake Fraser-McGurk, secure bumper pay days and a pair of cricketing legends believe the eye-watering sums of money could have a dramatic impact on the future of cricket.
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Fraser McGurk, who has established himself as one of the world’s best exciting white ball players, was snapped up by the Delhi Capitals for $1.65 million.
Elsewhere, Josh Hazlewood cashed in with a $2.29 million contract at Royal Challengers Bengalaru and Mitchell Starc was also signed by the Capitals for $2.14 million.
However, for English Test legend Michael Vaughan, Fraser McGurk must take a leaf out of the book of Indian superstar Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The 22-year-old, who is predominantly a white ball batsmen, belted a dominant 161 in the second innings against Australia, showing his technique is transferable across all formats.
For Fraser-McGurk to become a true star, Vaughan believes he also has to evolve and be able to score big runs when facing a red ball.
“So far in his career he’s been a T20 specialist, he goes out and he tries to whack sixes and that’s what these franchises are after,” Vaughan said.
“You can’t blame him. He wanted to play for South Australia in the longer format and they didn’t pick him and I feel like a lot of modern players are going to choose this route.
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“If you wan’t to be an outstanding player and play for many, many years you need a strong foundation. The perfect example is Yashasvi Jaiswal, he’s a great role model of the world game.
“He’s a white ball specialist but he’s got the pure game as well. Jake Fraser-McGurk, we can see he can climb into anything. He can whack it out of the ground.
“But we saw in the recent One Day series, when the ball was nibbling around fourth stump, he struggled so I’d love to see him play a bit of the longer format.”
Vaughan also highlighted Jaiswal’s ability to deliver a tough innings at the crease, facing 297 deliveries at what has been a tough Perth Stadium pitch.
“I hope a lot of young players coming through, and they’re looking at Fraser-McGurk and the riches of the IPL, just watch the way this guy played here, he got 161,” Vaughan said.
“Yes we will see all the flamboyant strokes on the highlights reel but it was his defence, the aspect of him leaving the good balls, the game awareness to see off brilliant spells from Cummins and Hazlewood.
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“That’s the way to play, he’s shown the modern generation. There’s all the talk ‘that’s the way we play, we just hit boundaries’. Well this guy hits boundaries when he wants, but he also defends and he has got a great leave.
“He will be the richest cricketer after Rishabh (Pant) soon.”
Meanwhile, former Australian Test spinner Kerry O’Keeffe echoed his opinion and explained the hefty pay packets will influence the next generation of cricketers.
“Those numbers will have a profound effect on cricketers around the world,” he said.
“Because they are sitting there in the under 15s representative team, and they’re thinking I want to a career in cricket and they’re dazzling numbers.
“We look at the Tim Davids of this world who have not played a first class game of cricket, yet he’s a multi-millionaire out of the fact he can hit sixes.
“That will have an effect on players.”
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