Fraser-McGurk rides the ebbs and flows of IPL in two contrasting years

During the IPL's run-glut last year, there was no combination more compelling than Jake Fraser-McGurk and the batting-friendly pitches of the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Fraser-McGurk batted five times in Delhi and belted 222 runs off 81 balls; more than half of them went either to, or over, the boundary.

But 12 months on, Fraser-McGurk finds himself out of the Delhi Capitals (DC) XI. He played the first six games of the season but a tally of 55 runs - and a strike rate of 105.76 - made him dispensable. He was duly dropped, even with Faf du Plessis absent through injury. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" he said on Saturday, when asked to assess his form. "It's not been great this year."

It has been classic second-season syndrome, with bowlers now wise to Fraser-McGurk's strengths and planning accordingly. In DC's opening game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Rishabh Pant stationed a fielder at long-off from the outset, daring Fraser-McGurk to try and clear him. He duly obliged, and was caught by the man on the rope.

He has only made it to double-figures in one innings, when he was dropped twice early on in making 38 off 32 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He showed a brief glimpse of his destructive best when hitting 4, 4, 6 off consecutive balls from legspinner Zeeshan Ansari, but chipped back a return catch off the fourth delivery in that sequence, seemingly caught between stalls.

"Obviously I'd love to have some more runs next to my name, but that's the way cricket is," Fraser McGurk said. "Sometimes you go through highs and you go through lows. I think the IPL has seen it in both years for me personally: you saw last year, and now you're seeing this year.

"The most important thing is to stay level through the whole thing, no matter if you're going well or not going so well. My role as a batter is to get the team off to a nice start, but it doesn't mean I have to try and hit every ball for six. I'm working really hard through myself and my coaches and everyone around me on how I can get back into that team and succeed."

But staying level is easier said than done, not least at the age of 23. Fraser-McGurk was thrown into the world's biggest T20 league last year and became an overnight superstar, but has struggled to maintain his form since: in his last 30 T20 innings around the world, he is averaging 14.56. He now has the pressure of an INR 9 crore (AUD $1.65 million) price tag, too.

"It's under more eyes," he said. "More eyes are seeing this tournament than any [other]. It's only been a few years where I've been a part of things like this, and staying level is something that I've not always been good at. It takes a bit of learning to do that. I think [it's about] trying to focus on yourself and be as professional as you can.

"You can't be too results-based and outcome-based in this game, otherwise you just won't get anywhere. You've just got to keep trusting the process and keep backing your strengths and trying to strengthen your weaknesses. Hopefully, one day, it turns around and then you kick start again. That's the game.

"It's T20 cricket, it's going to happen. Not everyone's going to go out there and hit 50 off 20 balls every single time. It's just how you find ways to get through that, those little bad periods and then come out on the other side stronger."

Fraser-McGurk thrived under the public backing of his coach Ricky Ponting last year, but Ponting has since moved to Punjab Kings (PBKS) and has been replaced at DC by Hemang Badani. Fraser-McGurk has previously worked with Badani at Dubai Capitals in the ILT20, and said he has been fully supported by the team's coaching staff and their captain, Axar Patel.

"I mean, Ricky's Ricky," Fraser-McGurk said. "Obviously Ricky's a wonderful coach and was a wonderful player, and I love playing under him, but Hemang is just the same. [Axar] always says 'keep smiling' to everyone - not just me. He is one of those guys who are so relaxed in all these situations."

He has also worked with DC's mentor, Kevin Pietersen, who has encouraged him to "be ready" in case he gets another opportunity later in the season. "He keeps saying that it's a long tournament, and we've got 14 games. We're only halfway through now, so there's so many more opportunities that could come.

"'Just be ready' is what he's saying. 'Just keep being ready,' and obviously [we are] working on some weaknesses, and things like that. The pitches are a bit different this year - a bit slower - [so we are] working on some things that we can get through that with. Hopefully, the next opportunity, [it] should be good."